Family History 

Four generations of the Brown family of Springhill, Nova Scotia have diligently served the funeral needs of this community located in the heart of Cumberland County, just twenty miles from the New Brunswick south-eastern border. 

Carriage builder Arthur William Brown (1861 - 1926) opened and operated a funeral service on Main Street in 1892, having assisted with many of the funerals of the one hundred and twenty-five men and boys who were lost in the first mining disaster in 1891. 

Arthur Hall Brown was involved in the Halifax 1918 explosion, and helped, together with many other Nova Scotia funeral directors, to bury nearly two thousand victims. 

Following the death of his father in 1926, Arthur Hall Brown continued operations under the name of A. H. Brown Funeral Service Limited, with a new funeral home built at 5 McFarlane Street in 1965. Their first motorized hearse was a 1925 chain-driven Rio and the Browns built a body for the chassis. A Dodge chassis was purchased in 1930 and the first Cadillac funeral coach was acquired in 1947. 

Winfield (Win), born in 1930, became the third generation funeral director on the death of his father in 1975 and remains as company president. A vigorous member of the Nova Scotia Funeral Directors and Embalmers Association, Win Brown also served as general chairman of the Atlantic Funeral Directors and Service Convention when it was held in Moncton in 1962 and also served several terms on the Nova Scotia Board of Registration.  Win married Effie in 1949, who has since been a pillar of strength in the funeral home operations. Assisting them is son David, fourth generation, married to Beverley and together they have three wonderful children: daughters Sara, Lindsay and a son, Adam. Win and Effie also have another son Arthur Richard Hall Brown with wife Virginia and daughters Jan, Becky and Jenny. Also at the Funeral Home are Beth Rushton, office, Bernard St. Peter, maintenance and Andrea Harper, apprentice. Beth and Bernard are life long residents of Springhill and all are major contributors to the success of the operation. 

The Funeral Home sits on a generous piece of land with paved parking available for a large number of vehicles. It is handicapped accessible, has a chapel with seating capacity for 140, large visitation rooms, one of which can be used as  a reception room, casket display area, arrangement office and preparation room