Service steeped in community

Allnutt Funeral Service – Drake Road Chapel has provided funerals, cremations and personalized memorials for families in the Fort Collins community for more than 75 years. Most of the people who work at Drake Road Chapel are lifelong residents of Fort Collins with deep roots and strong ties to the area. We share values with and carry a true passion for taking care of our friends and neighbors in their most difficult moments.

We believe that it’s important to take the time to acknowledge the life of a loved one. We design services that celebrate the individuality of a person and the uniqueness of his or her path because we know that honoring your loved one’s life is an act of love.

A modern Fort Collins funeral home

Allnutt Funeral Service – Drake Road Chapel was built in 1996. Located on West Drake Road, between Worthington and Meadowlark avenues, our two-story building is a modern, welcoming place to plan a funeral or cremation and celebrate life. Warm, smiling associates and a natural water feature set inside our bright, open foyer help create a soothing and hospitable atmosphere for each family that walks through our doors.

Originally the main business office for the Allnutt Funeral Service group, the non-denominational chapel seats about 175 people comfortably and includes overflow seating for services that require even more capacity. A vaulted plank ceiling, wooden pews and stained-glass windows give the spacious chapel a cozy feeling despite its large size.

The reception room seats up to 50 people at round tables. Larger groups can also use an overflow area that holds another 30 guests. We’ve even hosted funeral receptions in our lobby area. Our flexible spaces give us the ability to accommodate services of all sizes.

Our private crematory

Cremation is an increasingly common choice, but not everyone knows that cremation can also include a beautiful ceremony or even a viewing with visitation. From a cremation without a funeral service to a cremation with a memorial that follows, we help you understand the variety of arrangements that are possible and partner with you to create a unique service for your loved one.

Though Drake Road Chapel does not have a crematory on-site, we perform all our cremations at our private crematory at the Allnutt Funeral Service location in Loveland. That means your loved one never leaves our care.

Genuine people who truly care

The team at Drake Road Chapel emphasizes kindness and hospitality. We find it infinitely rewarding to guide families through the process of honoring their loved ones, and we are always here for you, whether you are planning a funeral ahead of time or need immediate assistance. Call us anytime, day or night.

History

The Allnutt Funeral Service story began when Thomas Macy left Nantucket at the age of 9 as a stowaway on a whaling vessel. Following service in the Civil War, he became a pioneer. He traveled as far as the Colorado mountains and settled in Greeley. He began working at Linn Grove Cemetery and became the first county coroner in 1884. In 1886, he founded T.G. Macy Undertaking.

By 1920, T.G. Macy Undertaking had four downtown Greeley locations. In 1918, one of the properties burned down. That’s when Macy built the property at 702 13th St., where the Macy Chapel stands today.

A love that inspired a legacy

Fredric Allnutt arrived in Colorado from England in the late 1890s. He met and married Macy's stepdaughter, Anna Wolfenden, in 1902 and joined the family business that same year.

The flu pandemic hit the area hard in 1918. The first of two H1N1 influenza viruses killed an estimated 50 million people worldwide, including many in the Greeley area. Fredric and Anna’s son John was only 15 when he was needed to drive a hearse to and from Linn Grove, Evans and Eaton cemeteries up to six times a day. He officially joined the company in 1920, the same year Frederic and Anna built their house on the 13th Street property in Greeley. It remained a personal residence until the 1980s, when the company converted it to a reception center.

Brothers building the business

The business continued to thrive, and after graduating from the University of Denver in 1950, John’s son Jack attended mortuary school in Dallas. He joined the family business in 1951. In 1956, Jack's brother, Bill, returned from a stint in the Air Force and joined the family business. Around that time, the 2 brothers purchased the company's Eaton location, which was sold in 2009.

They made Goodrich Mortuary, on East Olive Street in Fort Collins, part of the Allnutt group in 1984.

Bill’s son, Rick, joined the company in 1985. That’s about the time Allnutt bought Hunter Chapel in Loveland. The next year, they bought Estes Park Mortuary.

The company added Reager Funeral Home and Crematory to its portfolio in 1994. That same year, Allnutt Funeral Service began operating its first care center. (That property was sold in 2011, but by that time, the care center had already been relocated to Hunter Chapel.)

Estes Park Mortuary got a new chapel in 1995. A new Fort Collins location—the current location—was built in 1996.

Growth continues

In 2007, the family purchased its first funeral home/cemetery location, Resthaven Funeral Home and Memory Gardens, in Fort Collins. Seeing a need for a place for people to memorialize their pets, they added a pet cemetery.

That same year, on March 16, the beloved Jack Allnutt died. The family converted the original family home from a reception center to Jack’s Place, a community meeting place and temporary lodging for those attending funerals or visiting sick loved ones nearby.

In 2012, Allnutt Funeral Service acquired Callahan-Edfast Mortuary and Crematory in Grand Junction, expanding its reach to the families of the Western Slope. Additionally, the company bought Grant Mortuaries, in Craig and Meeker, Colorado.

Today, Allnutt Funeral Service is part of the Dignity Memorial network of funeral, cremation and cemetery service providers. Family proprietors Rick Allnutt and Susan Hughes and Bill and Dee Allnutt carry on the family enterprise, which includes 12 locations in western and northern Colorado and western Nebraska.

2020 winner of Best of NOCO: Funeral home