The funeral home was originally owned by Lloyd Cosby.  At that time the funeral home was located on the main street of Gravenhurst where Knapps Gravenhurst Furniture now exists.  As were many funeral  homes during the early years, funeral homes were affiliated with furniture shops and ambulance stations.   During the 1920s 30s 40s & early 50s, the main street business was half funeral home and half furniture shop.

In 1955 Lloyd Cosby sold the furniture portion of  his business to Allen Knapp.  Mr. Knapp carried on the furniture business in the same location as his son Gregg & his wife Colleen Knapp have continued to do so.   In 1958 Lloyd Cosby relocated the funeral portion of the business to its present location at 215 Bay Street, just a block away from the original foundation.

The building which was constructed during the winter months was completely encased in plastic so as not to slow down the construction process during the cold climate. Local tradesmen worked year round on the massive brick building.   In 1967 Mr. Cosby sold the business to a funeral director from Toronto - Joe Cavill.  Joe Cavill along with his wife Muriel ran the funeral home until Joe’s death in 1984.  Joe had many passions and you can see a sample of his carving skills to the right of this page.  You can see this beautiful carving at our Bay Street location.

In 1981 Joe & Muriel’s daughter Cathy obtained her funeral director's licence and has continued on in her fathers footsteps.   Cathy along with directors Greg Way and Peter Denys together conduct the day to day operations of the W. J. Cavill Funeral serving Gravenhurst and the surrounding area.