Husband-Wife Team Purchases East Windsor Property Of Embattled Funeral Home

EAST WINDSOR, CT — A brand new funeral home operated by a husband-and-wife team of experienced, licensed embalmers has opened at 37 Gardner Street, site of the former Bassinger & Dowd Funeral Home.

Joel and Emily Randolph are the owners and operators of East Windsor Community Funeral Home, which officially opened Aug. 21. East Windsor land records indicate they purchased the 5,390 square-foot property Aug. 15 from Vineyard Capital Partners LLC for $600,000.

Bassinger & Dowd, which was founded in the early 1950s, was taken over by Philip Pietras in 2014. He operated the mortuary for more than a decade, as well as his three other locations: Burke-Fortin Funeral Home in Vernon, Tolland Memorial Funeral Home and Coventry-Pietras Funeral Home, until his arrest this spring on larceny charges, stemming from misuse of more than $80,000 of clients' funds intended for pre-paid arrangements, which instead were used to finance vacations and shopping sprees.

Joel Randolph grew up in Enfield, and graduated from the New England Institute at Mount Ida College in Boston in 1994. He is a licensed funeral home director and embalmer in both Connecticut and Massachusetts, with more than three decades of experience, including many years with Leete-Stevens Family Funeral Homes.

Emily (Ahern) Randolph, also a licensed director and embalmer, grew up in the industry, as her grandfather was a funeral director in their hometown. She graduated from Lincoln College of New England in 2015, and has since gained experience in arranging personalized and meaningful funeral and memorial services. She serves as a board member for the Connecticut Funeral Directors Association.

"We look forward to serving the community," Emily Randolph told Patch.

East Windsor Community Funeral Home may be reached at 860-559-8946. For more information, visit eastwindsorfuneralhome.comeastwindsorfuneralhome.com.