Photos by Donald Norton

A funeral home that for decades served as a final farewell for Somerville families said its own goodbye Saturday with an auction.

The auction at Cataldo Funeral Home made over $30,000 in sales. The priciest item was a pair of chandeliers which sold at $1,800, said Klia Ververidis a partner at Crown Auctions.

The massive house was the original location of Fisher College from the 1920s until the 1950s when Frank and Lillian Cataldo purchased the property. Lillian Cataldo was one of the first female funeral directors in Massachusetts.

The Cataldo’s purchased the property to relocate their funeral home business from the North End. The family occupied the upper two levels of the home and operated the business out of the first floor and the basement. Three generations operated the business for six decades.
The house was a treasure trove of antiques and vintage items, said an auctioneer. “When we first arrived at the house, our original intention was to remove everything and bring it back to our auction facility, but when we saw how much stuff was there and how large the space was, we decided to hold the auction on site,” said Arthur Crisafulli, Crown Auctions senior auctioneer.

~George P. Hassett