The Connecticut Casket Company

In the casket selection room at Potter Funeral Home in Willimantic, owner Paul Cichon is pointing out a casket unlike anything else in the show room.

 

Paul Cichon- “This one is clear pine, and it has handles that have some walnut accents, and it’s very plain and simple, it’s very much an old fashioned coffin. Like you would see, maybe in an old photograph of something from the late eighteen hundreds.”

 

The casket was made by the Connecticut Casket Company, whose shop is just a half mile down the road in a century old factory building.

 

Bill Covey, a 31 year old former retail manager, and his father Drew Fraser started the company last year, but it was founded around a need that Fraser first recognized over a decade ago.

 

Bill Covey- “My father had gone to a close friend’s funeral where they needed a very large casket and he wanted to be buried in a pine box. So they had to have this thing ordered from Massachusetts, it took three days, and when it came back it looked like a shipping crate.” 

 

Drew Fraser- “That was unbelievable, there were screws, there were knots, it was bad! And I saw that and I said, ‘Oh my goodness, I can make something better than that in my basement!'” 

 

A carpenter by trade, Fraser set out to develop a better option for people who wanted to be buried in a pine box as opposed to one of the traditional round topped caskets seen at most funerals. He eventually found his inspiration in an eighteenth century, Shaker candle box and built a prototype.

 

Drew Fraser- “I needed to design a casket that was green had no hardware in it. So now this top actually slides in with no hardware. The handles I designed are black walnut and they’re pegged through the handle, the block and the casket itself. This is one hundred percent wood, there are no screws, no nails. Through the joinery that I use and the tops it’s just a very simple design.” 

 

And there was nothing like it on the market. By the end of 2009, both father & son’s jobs were being affected by the recession, and they started to talk seriously about going into the casket business. They found that the downturn in the economy would actually help get equipment, lumber and even a workspace 5 minutes from their homes at prices their business plan could support. They also had to prepare for some challenges that would lay ahead.

 

Bill Covey- “What a lot of people don’t know is that about 70% of the casket industry is controlled by 2 major corporations… And the other 30 percent is made of about 300 companies, whereas 5 years ago there were 2000 companies. So a lot of people say you’re crazy to start a casket business, but we’re doing something that no one else is. We’re really going in at an angle of green products and economically friendly products. One of our missions is to lower the burden for families in a time of need.”

 

They officially entered the connecticut market in april of 2010 with just one product- a simple, hand crafted pine casket, with a sliding Shaker top and no lining. The cost would be about a third that of the average commercial coffin. 

 

Bill Covey- “We took that product out and we realized that that product was much more versatile than we expected. Being the fact that it was green, it had no hardware and no chemicals, it also kind of doubled as Orthodox Jewish viable. So we partnered with a rabi who certifies all our jewish products. So essentially changing the style of a cross to a Star of David it becomes an Orthodox Jewish Casket.”

 

They continue to adapt as they learn more from their customers, and at this point the company services funeral homes across New England, with a model line that includes 8 different caskets, 6 urns, and even caskets and urns for pets. Along with the growth, they’ve encountered some unexpected challenges. 

 

Bill Covey- “Most funeral homes are family owned, and sometimes the same family has owned them for generations. And because the same family has owned it they’ve been dealing with the same casket companies. Which the loyalty’s incredible which I can definitely appreciate. But it is tough to show them that there is a new product out there a cheaper product out there, a different product out there.”

 

Back at Potter Funeral Home, Paul Cichon thinks there is more to their success than just the strength of their products.

 

Paul Cichon- "What impresses me most about them is the energy they have and, uh it’s very hard to describe, but he’s very excited about what he’s doing and you can just see it. When a salesman comes here he represents a big national company. When Bill comes to my door, Bill’s representing himself. It’s he and his father. Its his own product that he built with his own hands and that’s impressive. And it’s certainly something that’s uncommon today." 

 

Covey and Fraser say that they are in this for the long haul, and hope to continue to grow the business within their local community. For WNPR, I’m J Holt.