Ilo

transported the body to the church.

In the case of funerals at St. Paul’s Church, the usual hearse driver was Jimmy “the Giant” Landrigan. Jimmy was a short, wiry, small-framed man who always had a twinkle in his eye. He and his wife, Alice, raised their family on their farm on St. Mary’s Road.

The Catholic funeral was a very restrained ceremony. The altar was draped in black; the priest wore black vestments. Four candles in tall black stands stood at each corner of the coffin. The pall, the large cloth covering the casket, was black. The priest and choir sang the somber Mass for the Dead in Latin. There was very little to lift the Spirits of the bereaved family. For many Catholic funerals it was customary to have three Catholic and three Protestant