Our History
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The Collins Funeral Home is a full service, family owned and operated funeral facility, serving the families in the greater Norwalk area since 1898. Our services are based upon compassion and respect. We are as we always have been: available twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week to respond to the needs of you and your loved ones.
In 1898 Andrew J. Collins arrived in South Norwalk and opened a furniture store on North Main Street.
In turn-of-the-century America, furniture stores were the purveyors of coffins and caskets. Funeral homes as we know them were few and families of the deceased saw to all the details of a funeral. They ordered the casket, engaged the clergyman and arranged for the plot, headstone, flowers and burial. The wake always took place at the family’s home.
Gradually, furniture stores began to “undertake” funeral arrangements for bereaved families.
The A.J. Collins funeral business opened as a storefront in the A.J. Collins furniture store on North Main Street, as a small part of the operation.
In the 1940’s the South Norwalk funeral business moved to a larger quarters on Flax Hill Road. In 1964, the funeral home on Flax Hill Road was bulldozed away in South Norwalk’s renovation and the company consolidated at the East Avenue Location.
Mr. Collins never had children of his own. When he died in 1951, his brother-in-law and long time associate, William M. Skidd succeeded as president. In 1958 the business was passed to Mr. Skidd’s son and daughter-in-law William J. and Jeanette Skidd. In 1970 at the age of 54 William J. Skidd passed away unexpectedly, his wife Jeanette took over as president and managed the funeral home until her retirement in 1999.
Today Collins Funeral Home is owned and operated by great nephew of A. J. Collins, William A. Skidd, and by his two sons William P. Skidd and Andrew D. Skidd.
Collins Funeral Home is a full service, family owned funeral facility with full handicap access. We have been serving our neighbors in the greater Norwalk area since 1898. Our hope is to continue our family's tradition of dignified, compassionate and respectful service to you and your loved ones.