Wimberly Funeral Home is set to expand its facility to add a chapel and a fellowship hall, revitalizing old property on Summit Street.
More than 50 people attended Wimberly’s groundbreaking Thursday, Dec. 16, to celebrate its coming expansion and renovation of its existing building, including several pastors from the community. Rev. Charles Dickey and Deacon Ron Sheats, who is the Chairman of the Newtown Florist Club, spoke at the ceremony and gave prayers of thanks, with Sheats calling it a “historic event.”


Christopher Wimberly Sr. bought the funeral home in 2007 and has since become embedded in the Gainesville community, and the funeral home has earned some statewide respect. His wife, Felicia, who is a licensed mortician and funeral director, was appointed by Gov. Brian Kemp to the Georgia Board of Funeral Services earlier this fall.
“God has a way of putting things together, and the best is yet to come,” Christopher Wimberly said. “It does my heart good to see all of you who are here today.”
The funeral home will be valued at $900,000 with the expansion. It will now be able to hold large services at its 199-seat chapel and let guests eat together afterwards at a fellowship hall, which will host about 50 people, Christopher Wimberly said. Plus, it will add parking space to keep cars off of Summit Street.
“We needed the space to operate,” Wimberly said. “The community is excited about it.”
Wimberly will stay open for business while it renovates the inside of its existing building to add more parlor rooms, office space and a waiting area.
“We’re going to be able to do the same services that we had before renovation,” Dickey said.
Gainesville City Council approved the project in 2019 and along with $19,000 of tax allocation district funds, allowing Wimberly to tear down a vacant 79-year-old house adjacent to its property at 325 Summit St.
The expansion and renovations are expected to take about six to eight months, Wimberly said.



