Our History

Personalized service options allow you to honor your loved ones in a way that is both meaningful and healing. We hope to provide support and caring while delivering memorial services that celebrate life and help families find the peace they deserve.
If you’re seeking an honorable celebration of life, we invite you to learn more about where we came from, our vision, and the dedicated people behind our work.

A History of Caring

We're proud of our role in helping Hilton Head Island families with death care services for over 35 years, and we'd like to share a bit of our story with you.

The Island Funeral Home and Crematory was founded in 1981 by Allen and Nancy Richardson. Their mission was to provide complete death care services to Hilton Head Island. Previously, families had to travel to Beaufort, SC, or Savannah, GA, to care for their loved ones in passing.

When planning for construction of the funeral home, the Richardsons were adamant that the building fit in with the "island" character and settled on a Lowcountry-style building, whose design led to a national award for the local contractor who built the funeral home. In anticipation of the wishes of the client families, the Richardsons added the firm's first on-site crematory in 1983.

For many years, Allen and Nancy solely operated the business with the help of a few part-time staff members. As the island grew, so did the business.

In addition to part-time associates, their daughter Sheri joined the staff in 1992 as a licensed funeral director. Upon Nancy's death in 1993, Sheri assumed partial ownership of the firm with her father. Together, they have grown the business to include six full-time funeral directors and several part-time funeral staff associates.

In 2002, the business expanded to include another family-owned crematory. In 2005, Allen and Sheri made a commitment to extend The Island Funeral Home and Crematory's special brand of caring for all family members to include pet cremation services.

Over the years, The Island Funeral Home and Crematory has been recognized six times as a Pursuit of Excellence firm by the National Funeral Directors Association. Readers of the Island Packet have named our firm "Best Funeral Home" for several years since its inception.

Allen and Sheri also have been featured in American Funeral Director magazine, as well as local publications.