After 41 years of operating Perkins-Parker Funeral Home and Cremation Service, owner Chris Palermo is retiring, hoping to develop some leisure skills after being on call 24/7 to families in the Central Vermont area for four decades.
Palermo closed on the sale of the business on Monday, September 21, selling it to Jim Kennedy, owner of Lavigne Funeral Home in Winooski.
“After 41 years in the funeral service, 37 of those years as a business owner, I realized it was time for me to seek a change of pace and an opportunity to live some life on my own terms. It is truly bittersweet on many levels,” he said.
Palermo lived almost all of his life in Waterbury and over the last two years, he and his wife subdivided some land and sold the lots, and then sold their farm house and built a retirement home in Morrisville where they moved a couple of months ago.
His wife, Terri, retired a few years ago after a long career as a nurse. She worked as an RN for the state, a school nurse at Thatcher Brook Primary School and the last five years for Central Vermont Home Health and Hospice in a family nurse partnership where she worked with pregnant women prior to them giving birth and then followed up with the women and families for two years.
“We saw both ends of the life cycle,” Palermo said, when asked about his work with the dead and her work with the newborn.
“It’s been a great journey. I’ve really enjoyed the 41 years that I practiced my vocation. I’m 65 next month. There are things I’d really like to experience. Traveling and projects I’d like to undertake when COVID is less invasive in our lives,” he said.
He and Terri have three adult sons, all of whom live in the area and all of whom helped in the funeral home as they were growing up in high school.
“They didn’t want to be on call 24/7 so we have two master plumbers and one master electrician,” he said, acknowledging that their vocations were helpful in building the new home in Morrisville.
Beyond travel and learning how to relax, Palermo is looking forward to continuing in his role as president of the Vermont Funeral Directors Association where he says there is still much work to do.
“It is my intention to remain active in their mission,” he said.
The funeral home will continue to operate as Perkins-Parker Funeral Home and Cremation Service at the current location in Waterbury.
“John Woodruff, my longtime and invaluable employee, will continue his vocation with Perkins-Parker. I am truly thankful for my years of service to the families of Central Vermont and the trust and faith they put in me and those who worked with me. It’s been a remarkable and fulfilling journey,” Palermo said.
FOUNDED IN 1907
Founded in 1907 by Vernon L. Perkins of Warren, V.L. Perkins Company Home Furnishers and Funeral Service operated as a furniture and dry goods store on the main floor at 46 South Main Street in Waterbury with the funeral home on the second floor. Following the marriage of Charles Parker to Norma Perkins, Vernon’s daughter, Charles became a licensed mortician and succeeded Vernon following his passing.
In the mid-1940s, Charles purchased the property next door which functioned for many decades as the town’s community hall. Originally the Village Fire House, the building later became the town hall hosting everything from high school basketball games, boxing matches, Town Meetings and plays on the second floor, locker rooms on the first floor with two jail cells in the rear of the building. The building went dormant following the construction of a new gymnasium at the then high school on Stowe Street and was renovated to become the funeral home in 1957.
Charles passed away in 1969 and his children, Craig “Rusty” Parker and Priscilla (Parker) Palermo inherited the furniture store and funeral home.
“In 1979, I was approached about becoming the next generation to work in the family business. A recent graduate of UVM, I agreed to come and work for a year to see how I liked it and if it liked me. On June 10, 1983, I purchased the furniture store and funeral home and in 1991, I closed the furniture store to focus solely on funeral service and developing the newly acquired monument business,” Palermo recalled.
“After 41 years and serving nearly 4,000 families, I can unequivocally say that it was the best decision I could have ever made. Four generations, 113 years of continued family ownership and management, it has been truly a remarkable journey and a vocation I have cherished e
