G.W. Giffin Funeral Home Ltd.
History
Take a trip along Marine Drive on Nova Scotia’s eastern shore and unexcelled coastal beauty and romantic seaside villages will welcome you. And along this much traveled vacation route, the Country Harbour River empties into Country Harbour just above Salsman Provincial Park – ideal for boating and saltwater fishing.
It’s at Country Harbour you’ll find the G.W. Giffin Funeral Home Ltd., which traces its history to the 1920’s when Hector MacLellan was the local undertaker. He was often assisted by George Parker (Park) Giffin, born in Goldboro in 1903, married to Lillian MacArthur in 1923 and, eventually, a father of eight. Park was just 15 years of age when he began working at S.R. Giffin & Sons General Merchants store and he would work there in varying capacities until his retirement in 1970. Store wages were not large in the Depression Years of the 1930’s and a need for added income to support his family was the main reason he helped MacLellan in funeral service. When MacLellan died in 1936, Park continued to operate the funeral business for the widow Ethel MacLellan.
In 1942, he purchased the MacLellan business and together with his wife, Lillian, continued to render the same service to the area which extended from New Harbour to Cross Roads Country Harbour. Lillian performed the bookkeeping duties and engraved the breastplates that, in those days, accompanied the casket. (Many of these are still in possession of local families who kept them as memorials to their loved ones.) Park operated his funeral service from the Goldboro area, where some of his merchandise was delivered by boat. The first funeral coach used by Park was horse drawn. Later, a panel truck was purchased and then a station wagon. The style of the two vehicles inadvertently led to the establishing of an ambulance service. Following the death of his wife Lillian, in 1968, Park continued on his own until 1975 when he retired and his son Wayne continued to operate the business. George Parker Giffin died December 25th, 1994 at the age of 91.
Wayne Giffin had served 13 years with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police prior to returning to Nova Scotia to take over the family business, his last posting being in Niagara Falls, Ontario. Wayne obtained his professional license in 1975 and was assisted in the firm by his wife Arnita, who acted as bookkeeper and office manager and lately by daughter Lenora, who plans on continuing the family tradition. Wayne was also assisted in his endeavors by Sherman MacArthur of Goldboro. In 1981 Philip MacArthur joined the staff of Giffin’s and was successful in acquiring his funeral director’s and embalming license as well as becoming an Emergency Medical Assistant. The ambulance service continued to expand and when it was sold to Emergency Medical Care Inc. in 1997 it consisted of four ambulances and 20 personnel. Philip MacArthur elected to accept a position of Supervisor with Emergency Medical Care Inc. while Arnita ran their billing office for the Eastern Mainland Region.
It was a credit to the community of Country Harbour and the surrounding area when Wayne opened a new funeral home on August 3, 1991. Giffin has been involved in many aspects of community service, he is a past member of the board of directors of the Nova Scotia Licensed Embalmers and Funeral Directors Association, as well as being a past president of the association.
On December 17th, 2001 the G.W. Giffin Funeral Home Ltd., Country Harbour purchased the funeral home located at 34 Main Street Sherbrooke, Nova Scotia which had been previously owned and operated by the Ecum Secum Funeral Home Ltd. This facility has since been extensively renovated and is now known as the G.W. Giffin Funeral Home, St. Mary’s Chapel. With the addition of this facility the area served by the two funeral homes encompasses approximately 100 miles of the Eastern Shore from Liscomb to White Head.
The Giffin family has been blessed with the birth of Lenora’s two sons Parker Mason MacIsaac, born July 26th, 2001 and Rhett Angus MacIsaac, born August 17th, 2004. Given the history of the Giffin family, it is possible that one of these boys may one day carry on the family tradition of funeral service on the Eastern Shore.
