Colonial Funeral Home

Downtown Columbia funeral home

Colonial Funeral Home, nestled within the heart of downtown Columbia, offers spacious and comfortable amenities, accommodating both intimate and large gatherings with 2 visitation areas, a hospitality room and a large traditional chapel. Families will find ample space to spend time with one another and receive comfort.

Create meaningful services

We believe funeral services should reflect the lives of those being honored, and we strive to design meaningful tributes to those who have meant so much to family and friends. With over 80 years of combined experience, our staff has the knowledge and expertise to carry out your needs.

At Colonial Funeral Home, we celebrate life. We host funeral, memorial services and celebrations of life, all fully customizable with the option to add special touches. Whether your loved one had a specific hobby, favorite food or drink, or served in their community, we will take those details to create a fitting tribute. In addition, we write obituaries, design photo collages and keepsakes for guests and assist with scheduling catering.

Meet our team

Our team lives and works in the Columbia area, which allows us to offer personal, local care to each family we meet. This commitment to the area is showcased through our team, and we are among Columbia’s oldest funeral service establishments.

Everyone at Colonial Funeral Home considers it our calling to help families in Marion and the surrounding counties. Please contact us or come by to learn more about our funeral home in Columbia or to meet our funeral directors.

History

Colonial Funeral Home has a rich history in the Columbia, Mississippi, area that dates back over 100 years.

Our original funeral business

In October of 1880, Lampton Company opened for business. The Lamptons are a well-known Marion County family who entered the mercantile industry and offered many different products. One of their store's departments was its undertaking and funeral department, where caskets were sold as a retail item.

Around the turn of the century, in 1900, this department operated out of a warehouse in the rear of the department store. This was also when the first professional embalmer was employed.

In approximately 1914, the business moved from the warehouse to a remodeled home on 2nd Street. Mr. E. W. Wright served as a funeral director and manager during this era.

Building local partnerships

In 1923, J.W. Smith moved to Columbia to become associated with the Lampton Funeral Home. In 1929, a fire damaged the funeral home beyond repair, and many valuable records were lost. This did not deter the men from giving service to the townspeople as they quickly adapted to a nearby facility on 2nd Street.

In 1937, a group of business people met for the purpose of incorporating Colonial Funeral Home and selected the following directors: George Ben Lampton, H.H. Barnes, W.M. Lampton, E.H. Austin, J.W. Smith and F.W. Thornhill. It was announced that Lampton Funeral Home was retiring from the operation of its undertaking and funeral department by transferring the business to Colonial Funeral Home.

Continued care

In 1947, J.T. Waldrop became a member of the board of directors. He worked at the funeral home in Columbia and helped with the Poplarville location, also located in Mississippi, when needed. In addition, Colonial operated an ambulance service during this era.

In 1971, after 47 years of dedicated service, J.W. Smith retired and turned over the reins of general manager to J.T. Waldrop. A huge fire occurred on June 25, 1979, consuming a large part of the funeral home. Colonial had to temporarily operate from another facility while our funeral home was rebuilt.

What sets us apart

In 1987, Colonial Funeral Home merged with Bradford-O’Keefe Funeral Homes, a family-owned firm. Nearly 10 years later, in the fall of 1992, Colonial Funeral Home became part of the Dignity Memorial® network, which allows us to offer exclusive benefits that set us apart from others while providing caring service, value and customer satisfaction.