Our History

Our History

François-Xavier Berthiaume moved from Montreal to Hawkesbury in 1896. He aimed to implant a business in funeral services which was inexistent in the area at the time. A tailor and cabinetmaker by trade, he also involved himself in the manufacturing and finishing of wooden coffins. He also served the population by selling and distributing wood charcoal. Upon their father's death in 1934, his sons René and Lucien took over the funeral business which they operated under the name of " Berthiaume & Frère". During this period, Hawkesbury and area had no emergency services at their disposal. Thus between1935-1940, the Berthiaume brothers decided to start the first ambulance service in the region.

When Lucien passed away in 1944, Noël, the youngest son, became René's new associate and in 1946 Hawkesbury witnessed the opening of its first funeral parlour which was then located on Main Street. Families and friends could now pay their respects in an building designed especially for this purpose rather that maintaining the traditional "funeral wake" held in the homes.

After René's death in 1950, Noël became sole owner and as such decided in 1954 to rename the company "Salon Funéraire Noël Funeral Home Ltée/Ltd.". After the 1954 fire which destroyed several commercial establishments along Main Street, including the funeral home, the company relocated on McGill Street, where the head office can still be found.

In 1954, Noël's wife, Armande, joined the business after graduating from Humber College as a licenced funeral director. In fact, she is one of the first French-Speaking woman in the history of Ontario to practice this profession.

In 1968, the owners decided to open a branch of Noël Funeral Home on Lansdowne Street in the eastern part of town in order to accommodate the Hawkesbury residents living in that area.

Widowed in 1969, Armande became a single parent to six children, ranging between the ages of 9 and 16 years old. Nevertheless, she maintained the operation of the funeral home and the ambulance services thus ensuring the transfer of the companies to the third generation. René, Yves and Robert Berthiaume respectively obtained their Ontario funeral director licence in 1973, 1977 and 1995. In December 1999, René's son Jean-René, became a member of the fourth generation to join the family business.

In 1985, René and Yves, the present-time owners decided to acquire a funeral home in Vankleek Hill. In 1996, they decided to tear it down in order to build a more attractive and functional building.

As leaders in their field, the funeral directors at Berthiaume Funeral Home strive to help their families discover, through funeral rites, a means to celebrate the life of the deceased. Through workshops, conferences and the media, they continuously aspire to improve their services in order to inform the population, demystify death and alleviate the psychological and emotional effects related to the loss of a loved one.