About Us
Since the 1890′s, present and past owners of the Wilson Funeral Home have served the families of the Norwich community as an independent, family-owned funeral home. The funeral home is now owned by John Gawronski and his wife, Shannon. The two purchased the funeral home in March 2017 from long-time owners Douglas and Sharon (Ryan) Wilson. Doug served as the funeral home's funeral director, then owner, for a combined 36 years, and his father, Pete Wilson, served the community starting in 1949. John Gawronski joined the firm in 2009, and was licensed soon after. He became the firm manager in 2015, and oversaw every aspect of the funeral home operation until he and his wife purchased the firm in 2017.
John and Shannon are passionate about serving the Norwich community. John has served on the local hospice board and volunteers his time at the local YMCA. His wife, a native of nearby Greene, has been the Norwich YMCA's health and fitness director since 2005, and has coached numerous athletic teams in Norwich and Oxford. John and Shannon have three children, all of whom graduated from Norwich High School and pursued college degrees.
John Antonowicz, a Norwich native and active resident, started assisting the firm in 2014, and became formally employed by the funeral home in 2015. He graduated from mortuary school in 2016 and became a resident that same year. He was fully licensed in the fall of 2017. John has served on the Board of Directors of Chenango United Way, Chenango County Historical Society, Chenango Hospice, and Chenango Valley Home.
Our History
It was 1891, and George Lawrence decided to open a funeral home. He came to Norwich and purchased the undertaking business of the late Albert Cary. He also purchased a furniture business that was owned by the former L.A. Burr, then merged the two entities into “Burr and Lawrence”. The business was located on Lackawanna Avenue. He sold the business to “Beach & Dalton”, moved to Syracuse, then returned to Norwich a year later. Together with H.A. Curtis, he opened another undertaking and furniture business on South Broad Street in the location that is now the drive-up for NBT Bank. In 1910, the partnership with Mr. Curtis was dissolved and a one-half interest was sold to George Devine in 1915. Together they purchased the former Dr. J.L. Ray residence at 68 South Broad Street where they continued to operate until 1922 when Mr. Lawrence sold his interests to Mr. Devine.
Mr. Devine operated the Devine Funeral Home and Devine Furniture Store for many years. In 1949, a young man from western New York (Lockport) came to Norwich seeking employment as an apprentice funeral director. It was then that Braden (“Pete”) Wilson settled in central New York. Pete eventually bought a share of the business, after which it was renamed the Devine-Wilson Memorial Home. The furniture store operation was taken over by Mr. Devine’s son, Richard, and renamed it the Hamilton House. In 1980, Pete’s son, Doug Wilson, returned to Norwich after graduating from Cornell University and joined his dad in the operation of the funeral home.
The closing of the Hamilton House Furniture Store and the death of Pete Wilson in 1991 brought changes to the funeral home. Doug Wilson continued the funeral home operation and, in the fall of 2002, following the death of Richard Devine in 2000, purchased the remaining shares of the business. Its name was changed to the Wilson Funeral Home.
John Gawronski joined the firm in 2009, was named manager in 2015, and purchased the funeral home in 2017. John decided to leave the name of the funeral home unchanged to honor the Wilson family that served Norwich for a combined 68 years.
Although the name and the owners of the funeral home have changed several times over the course of its 125-year history, the common denominator has been family ownership and dignified, compassionate, and professional service.
Since the early 2000's, the Wilson Funeral Home has remained the sole independent funeral home in Norwich. Maintaining its local connection, its high standards of service, and its affordability has been very important to each of its owners, including the present owners, John and Shannon Gawronski.
Our Affiliations
