Wilson & Kratzer Mortuaries Chapel of the Mission Bells

“Growing with our community” has been the history of Wilson & Kratzer since its inception.

The business was originally known as Smallwood Parlors when Aubrey Wilson purchased the business which occupied a 25-foot store room on Macdonald Avenue near 8th Street. In 1921, Aubrey Wilson acquired the property at 7th and Bissell, and with the investment funds from his partner C.C. Kratzer, a well-known automobile dealer in Richmond, the name became Wilson & Kratzer Funeral Home. In 1926, Aubrey Wilson was elected coroner of Contra Costa County.

In an article written by Aubrey Wilson in 1926, he said, “The funeral home idea on which our own place of business is built is the newest idea in the methods of funeral conduct. It is based on the belief that the old fashioned gloomy exterior and interior of a funeral parlor was not in keeping with the best ethics of funeral direction. The modern work of a director is to comfort as well as bury. If he is to be a success in this difficult task, the whole of his establishment must minister to the desired end. With these ends in view, the Wilson & Kratzer funeral homes embodies in its exterior and interior an atmosphere of home rather than of office or shop. When you enter our facilities you are immediately struck by the quiet dignity of our establishments.”