Quinn Funeral Home

The date of June 3, 1892 was an important one in the long and illustrious history of the Robert & Son Funeral Home, later to become the Potvin & Son Funeral Home. For it was on that date, that the first funeral service was held from the funeral home. Thomas Robert was a very active member in the Pawtuxet Valley area. Not only was he the local undertaker but since he operated an ambulance and livery service in town, he held the position of honorary fire chief in West Warwick. He originally worked out of a store front next to the former Alice building which was on the corner of Quidnick Street and Brookside Avenue. As his business grew, he sought the assistance of his son, George Robert and also Romuald Potvin and moved to a larger home further down of Washington Street, where the present West Warwick senior citizen center is now located. Potvin, after returning from service in World War I, had taken the position of chauffeur for Mr. Pierre Bedard, a very prosperous merchant whose home was across the street from St. Bedard decided to return to his homeland of Canada, Romuald who had a very congenial manner decided that funeral service was well suited for him. He embarked upon a home study course from the Cincinnati College of Embalming and received his certificate in August of 1925. He continued to work for Thomas Robert until Mr. Robert died on April 7, 1945 at the age of 89 and his son, George took over the business. In 1954, George wanted to retire and asked Romuald if he would be interested in taking it over. Romuald was at that time 65 and his wife thought he was too old to take on such an endevour but he decided to do it. He asked his son, Conrad to go into business with him and so Conrad went to embalming school later that year and they started the Robert-Potvin Funeral Home. In 1962, as the business continued to flourish, the building on Washington Street was getting too small and there was just no adequate parking so the Potvins acquired property on Curson Street which at one time was the site of the original Coutu Lumber company and had Clarence and Norbert Coutu design and build a new and modern funeral home on that site. On New Year’s eve 1963, they moved into the new home. On March 19, 1977, Romuald Potvin passed away at the age of 89. The following year, Conrad’s son, Paul, graduated from New England Institute of Funeral Service and became the third generation of the Potvin family working at the funeral home. On July 20, 1992, Conrad died at the age of 70 and Paul continued to operate the home. In January of 2013, the funeral home celebrated fifty years of fine tradition at its Curson Street location. On December 2013, the Quinn family announced a new era as the business became the Potvin-Quinn Funeral Home. Together, Michael, Patrick, and Jerome Quinn along with Paul Potvin promise an outstanding level of funeral service and commitment to all the families of the Kent County area for many more years to come.