LEWISTON – Two city funeral homes that trace their heritage to 1888 will close soon, to be replaced by a modern, spacious facility with easy access to both the Turnpike and the Ramada Inn.
“Folks are interested in more and more choices,” said James Lynch, who with his brother, Kevin, owns and operates Pinette Funeral Counselors and Directors here and Dillingham and Son Memorial Chapel in Auburn.
Lynch said the two Pinette funeral homes on Bartlett Street and Lisbon Street in Lewiston will see their business moved to the new facility planned for the Alfred Plourde Parkway.
Already a zoning change allowing for the new funeral center has been approved, Lynch said. He expects groundbreaking to take place by August and the new location to be open for business by next summer or sooner.
It will “not just be a funeral home but a center to celebrate a loved one’s life,” Lynch said.
The facility will be large enough to accommodate two funerals at a time – both viewings and services.
Its proximity to the Turnpike will make it easier for today’s families, which tend to live farther and farther away, to access the center. Its proximity to the Ramada and other places offering overnight accommodations was an another plus, Lynch said. For some families, the Ramada will also likely be seen as a handy place to host pre-funeral breakfasts, post-funeral dinners and in some instances, memorial services.
Once the center opens, Lynch said the Bartlett Street and Lisbon Street funeral homes will close. Both properties are being sold. He wasn’t certain of the fate of the 1065 Lisbon St. building, but said the 87 Bartlett St. building will be converted into apartments and an office.
Logistics with both homes played a role in his and his brother’s decision to expand their business on the parkway.
“Parking is very difficult” he noted for both sites. It virtually doesn’t exist on Bartlett Street, and isn’t available on-street on Lisbon Street.
The Pinette Funeral Homes trace their roots to 1888, when F.X. Marcotte Furniture opened an undertaking service to take better advantage of its furniture makers’ skills.
Lynch said that was typical of funeral homes then. It was often a furniture company, or a hardware store with a supply of handles and wood, that would make and sell caskets and coffins. Offering funeral services became a natural extension of their businesses.
Napoleon Pinette, a woodsman by trade, had been working for Marcotte as a furniture mover and livery driver when he became an undertaker. In 1912, he bought the business from F.X. Marcotte and, in 1925, moved it in the direction of the growing funeral home business. Until then, wakes were typically held in the homes of families, but apartments and tenements made that less practical.
The first Pinette Funeral Home was at 413 Lisbon St., then a turnaround spot for the trolley. Pinette later bought a home at 87 Bartlett St. for an office and for funeral home purposes. That’s one of the homes that will close when the new center opens.
The Pinette Funeral Chapel at 1065 Lisbon St. was built in 1964 to accommodate families that had moved from the inner city to what was then viewed as Lewiston’s suburbs.
The Lynch brothers purchased the Pinette business from Raoul Pinette in 1986 after Kevin Lynch had served an apprenticeship under Pinette.
They purchased Dillingham and Son Memorial Chapel in Auburn in 1996 from John Dillingham, the great-great grandson of Civil War veteran Charles Dillingham, who had founded that funeral home in 1871.
“We’re excited,” said James Lynch of the brothers’ planned expansion. He called it a natural evolution of the business aimed at meeting the needs and requests of families who use their services.
“We’re here to cater to the families who use us,” he said.
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