About Us
About John L. Matt Funeral Home
Welcome to John L. Matt Funeral Home, a place where care, dignity, and respect are at the heart of what we do. For years, we have been a pillar in the community, offering a serene and compassionate environment for families to commemorate their loved ones.
Our History
In 1914, Anthony F. Matt, a son of Italian immigrants, established the Matt Funeral Home on the corner of Third Avenue and Bleecker Street in East Utica. As the Italian, Lebanese and Syrian population began to increase, there was a need for mortuary services in Anthony’s neighborhood and those adjacent. Understanding of the religious and cultural values of these people, he was able to provide them with compassionate and respectable service. Over the next thirty-three years at Matt Funeral Home, Anthony was able to gain the trust and respect of people throughout the city until he died at the age of fifty-six in 1947.
During the latter part of Anthony’s life, his son, John L. Matt Sr. was stationed in Italy and the countries of North Africa during World War II. As a dedicated member of the United States Army, John Sr. was forced to take on the difficult task of working in graves registration and as a French/Italian interpreter. For his honorable service, he was awarded with the Good Conduct Medal as well as two Bronze Battle Stars. When the war finally ended, John Sr. was sent home and took over the Matt Funeral Home in 1947. Shortly after assuming ownership with his wife Grace (Jean), John Sr. moved the business to a bigger location in East Utica where he lived with his family on the second floor. John Sr. and Grace were married for seventy years, retiring together in the 1970s.
At the age of eleven, John Matt. Jr. began working for his father at the many services conducted at the family funeral home. For many years, John Jr. looked up to his father and learned from him everything he knows about life and the family profession. He says that perhaps the most important thing he learned from his dad was that you must covet three things in particular: God, country, and family. After completing two years of mortuary schooling at Simmons School of Embalming and Mortuary Science, John did a one-year apprenticeship with a funeral home in Rochester before returning home to Utica in 1977.
In 2003, John was hired as the manager of the Francis W. Fisk Funeral Home at 3309 Oneida Street in Chadwicks. The Fisk funeral home was founded and ran by Francis Wayland Fisk of Clayville from 1942, until his death in 1969 when the business was sold to Frank Rogenka. In 2004, one year after Frank passed away, John purchased the business and has been running the John L. Matt Funeral Home at the very same location for thirteen years. On the walls of John’s office hang the pictures of his great grandparents, grandparents and parents to remind him every day of the values they stood for and instilled in him.
John L. Matt Funeral Home’s mission prides itself on providing a very comfortable, private and intimate setting. Because of the size of the location, John says he is able to provide an affordable service without sacrificing quality; he believes that “dignity should not come at high prices.”. He understands that some people have limited finances and is willing to work with them on all services offered, including cremation, bronze markers, caskets and mausoleums. John also offers customized memorial blankets for those that want to make a special dedication to their loved one who has passed on.
When it comes to being a funeral director, John says he sees the profession as a vocation as opposed to an occupation. He feels as though it is an honor to be given the sacred trust of handling the funeral service of a person from his community. John offers his personal number to his clients and welcomes them to call him anytime after the service if they are in need of counseling or not sure what steps to take. John also says it is a privilege to share a name with his late father and tries to carry on his legacy to the best of his ability.
