There is no greater pain than losing a loved one, but when that day comes, you want the very best at your side. In Columbia, that’s Colonial Funeral Home, which has helped Marion County families through their darkest days since the late 19th century.
Founded originally as the Lampton Company in 1880, one of its departments was undertaking and funerals. Around 1900, its first professional embalmer was hired, and the business moved from a warehouse to a remodeled home on Second Street, where Colonial remains and thrives today.
Colonial has a deep local heritage and is recognized as a longstanding community institution. Its dedication to service won Colonial the 2023 JD Power award for “Top Funeral Home Location in Customer Service” for “its exemplary performance in service excellence and customer satisfaction.”
The funeral home was also notably referenced in the 2023 Amazon Prime movie "The Burial," which tells the true story involving the O’Keefe family and Gulf National Life burial insurance, connecting to the business’s historical ties. The film stars Jamie Foxx and Tommy Lee Jones.
Colonial began a remodel in 2019 that has modernized the beautiful 19th century home, creating a relaxing and inviting atmosphere that is further uplifted by its incredible staff. General Manager Danny Jackson has been assisting families at Colonial since 2015 and took over management in 2018. Nearly the entire staff was born and raised in Marion County, helping to deliver a caring and personal touch to Colonial’s services.
“Our funeral home, and I say this from personal experience, when it comes to compassion, professionalism and dignity, we are top. We go above and beyond,” Colonial Office Manager Kim Gingell said. “We pride ourselves on that.”
“Our staff prides (itself) in preserving your loved one’s dignity,” Jackson added. “Everything operational we do evolves around protecting the deceased’s dignity. Whether it be during the preparations all the way to the matter in which we handle the casket, the manner in which we talk to the family and their guests and in the manner of how we conduct our ceremonies, it all evolves around uplifting or preserving the deceased’s dignity. No matter what their status is in life, everyone gets the red carpet.”
Colonial offers traditional burial, cremation and celebration of life services, pre-arrangements with locked-in pricing and payment plans. A new initiative called the "cremation experience" allows families to personalize memorials with furniture, easels, greenery, memorabilia displays and keepsakes, providing a more dignified and elevated presentation of ashes, especially when no formal service is planned.
While some may never consider planning or assisting in the planning of their own funeral ahead of time, Gingell said pre-arrangements can lift so much stress off of families.
“(Loss) is really hard on a family. You've lost your loved one, then you have to come in and pick out the casket and go through all this and you don't know what your mom would want or your dad would want,” she explained. “So, we try to urge people to pre-arrange. To come in and go ahead picking everything out and lock in that price. So if you die 15 years from now, that casket may be $5,000 where you only paid $2,000 for it (because) you locked in that price. (Pre-arrangements) can give you true peace of mind.”
Colonial Funeral Home is a true family tradition and is the perfect choice to be by your side in your time of need.
“We're your hometown funeral home, as your family tradition,” Jackson said. “We get people in here all the time who say, ‘Yeah, my great-grandmother was laid out in that front room up there back in 1956.’”
“My grandparents were here, my aunt was here, my mom and dad’s been here,” Gingell added, “and even if I didn’t work here, I would still use them. This is part of Columbia. It’s like a landmark. Everybody knows who we are as the ‘downtown funeral home.’ I wouldn’t go anywhere else. I really wouldn’t.”
Jackson added the staff at Colonial treats families the only way it knows how — with genuine compassion and professionalism.
Colonial Funeral Home is located at 323 Second St. in downtown Columbia and can be reached via phone at
(601) 736-5361.
