D'Esopo East Hartford Memorial Chapel

A convenient East Hartford location

The East Hartford Memorial Chapel is located in a quiet section of East Hartford, with Goodwin College located nearby. At D’Esopo East Hartford Memorial Chapel, we strive to cover every detail to make your guests more comfortable. Our chapel has a covered entryway to keep visitors out of the elements, and in the event of a large visitation, we set up additional covered areas outside along with fans or heaters to keep guests as comfortable as possible. We strive to offer the highest level of service to your family during every stage of the process — from planning a funeral, to coordinating the visitation and service, to providing assistance at the burial.

Service excellence

After more than a century in business, the D’Esopo family has a reputation that speaks for itself. At the D’Esopo East Hartford Memorial Chapel, we hold our associates to the highest level of service excellence, and every member of our team is required to earn a Certified Funeral Service Practitioner (CSFP) designation within 3 years of being hired. Earning a CFSP ensures that our associates continue to learn and grow in their work. This helps us approach every client with a wealth of knowledge and creativity, allowing us to plan beautiful celebrations that reflect the distinct characteristics of every unique life.

Our commitment to excellence has allowed the D’Esopo East Hartford Memorial Chapel to earn coveted awards and distinctions. Each year since 2000, we have received the Pursuit of Excellence Award from the National Funeral Directors Association (NFDA). In 2010, we were inducted into the NFDA's Hall of Excellence, a distinction bestowed on less than 1 percent of all funeral homes nationally.

Spacious, welcoming funeral chapels

Built in 1973, the D’Esopo East Hartford Memorial Chapel was the first structure designed and built just for funeral purposes in the East Hartford community. With a tasteful but casual atmosphere, we strive to offer an environment that is comfortable and inviting for our customers in the greater East Hartford area.

Our 1-story facility has 2 main chapels that can accommodate anywhere from 100 to 150 people, as well as a third chapel that can be converted into a more casual gathering space with sofas and coffee tables. We strive to offer a laid-back and peaceful environment for families who want to plan a funeral or memorial in a relaxed environment.

Each chapel is equipped with audio and video equipment, allowing families to display photo slideshows and videos or play music or playlists significant to their loved one. Associates at D’Esopo East Hartford Memorial Chapel can offer funeral and memorial services in English, Spanish and Italian, as well as American Sign Language.

Customized funeral services

The D’Esopo East Hartford Memorial Chapel provides a dignified, inviting atmosphere for funerals and memorial services in the East Hartford area. While our associates excel at planning traditional memorial services, we are also experienced in creating customized celebrations of life that highlight all the unique passions held by your loved one. Many of our D’Esopo associates live in the communities we serve, including East Hartford, Glastonbury, Manchester and the surrounding areas. When you walk into our funeral chapel, chances are somebody on staff already knows you—and either way, we strive to treat you like family.

We offer a range of services, including funeral planning, visitations, on-site funerals, cremations and burials at the cemetery of your choosing. While we have relationships at local cemeteries surrounding the Hartford area, we are also equipped to bring your loved one to any location you would like. D’Esopo associates are also honored to plan special services for veterans and nurses, celebrating their service to our country and communities.

What matters to us is that your service celebrates the unique life of your loved one. While we are experienced in planning traditional Catholic, Jewish and Buddhist funeral services, we can also accommodate personal touches that pay tribute to your loved one’s passions and lifestyle. Sometimes that means parking an uncle’s beloved Harley next to the casket, including a business owner’s work trucks in a funeral processional or even decorating with fresh fruit from a family orchard.

Family care concierge

We understand that planning a funeral is one of the most difficult experiences you can go through, which is why we don’t just care for individuals, we care for families. Our dedicated family care concierge has a background in event planning and will guide you through this difficult process and help you handle every single detail. After you make plans with a funeral director, the family care concierge will help you decide on other details, from flowers, to music, to reception planning and more. As specialists in planning celebrations of life, we can coordinate with the florist, musicians, reception venue and other vendors on your behalf, taking the to-do list out of your hands while planning a unique service you won’t soon forget.

Grief and support services

In addition to offering the highest level of service in funeral planning, D’Esopo offers grief and support services to the families we assist. We have a community service director on staff who can guide you to a variety of grief support services, including books, support groups and more. We also offer a holiday support program every year in December to help our clients and the general public cope with their loss during a very difficult time of year.

To help children who have experienced a tragedy or a loss, the D’Esopo organization has published a series of children’s books called Barklay and Eve. These books explain difficult topics, including dealing with a cancer diagnosis, going through hospice and coping with a loss. We offer these books to our clients, and we donate them to families in need in the East Hartford community throughout the year, along with stuffed animals.

The D’Esopo East Hartford Memorial Chapel partners with the Cove Center for Grieving Children to provide special education sessions for children who have experienced a tragedy or a death in the family. We welcome children to our funeral chapel so we can help eliminate fear of funeral homes and promote understanding about how to cope with a loss.

Unique history of D’Esopo East Hartford Memorial Chapel

After serving the greater Hartford area for more than 100 years, the D’Esopo East Hartford Memorial Chapel has a rich legacy of providing excellent care and service. In 1905, Joseph D’Esopo founded the D'Esopo Mortuary Home on Temple Street to serve the large Italian population in the Hartford area. Joseph earned a reputation of compassion and excellence by serving customers in a respectful, soft-spoken manner and working hard to provide services even for families with humble means.

In the late 1920s, Joseph saw changes in the industry—fewer funerals were being held in homes, as customers wanted to hold visitations in a separate location. In 1928, Joseph opened a larger facility that could accommodate visitations and funeral services on Wethersfield Ave, and he offered special services such as motorized vehicles when horses and buggies were still common. As early as 1931, Joseph’s wife Mary became one of a few women known to have her funeral director's license.

Together, the D’Esopos focused on offering quality service while staying ahead of trends in the industry. Their commitment allowed the business to remain successful until both Joseph and Mary passed away and left the family business to their sons. Following in their father’s footsteps, Daniel, George and Mike D’Esopo offered the same level of compassionate, excellent service.

Expanding the D’Esopo legacy

By the 1970s, the D’Esopo name was so highly regarded that the family had to expand the business. In 1973 the East Hartford Memorial Chapel opened and the D’Esopo Funeral Chapel opened in Wethersfield in 1978.

Today, the D’Esopo family continues to operate the D’Esopo East Hartford Memorial Chapel and D’Esopo Funeral Chapel, with the grandchildren of Joseph D’Esopo following in his footsteps to serve the greater Hartford community. In 2016, the D’Esopo organization joined the Dignity Memorial® network of providers. By celebrating each life like no other, the same principles of integrity, ethics, quality and service remain the core of how we care for each family. With a long tradition of excellence, we are eager to make the next service the most meaningful one yet.