History & Staff

In 1915 Mr. Augustus Hedrick Craig went to work at L.F. Sanchez Funeral Home which was established in 1899. The original funeral home was located at 30 St. George Street, in what is now the historical part of St. Augustine. After a few years Mr. Craig became a partner in the business and in 1918 the name was changed to L.F. Sanchez & Craig Funeral Directors. The funeral home was located on the first floor and the Craig family lived upstairs.

In 1984, due to the increasing size of St. Augustine the funeral home was relocated to its present day location at 1475 Old Dixie Highway. The Flagler College Auditorium now sits where the funeral home once stood. One year later the Craig family acquired St. Augustine Memorial Park. In 2001 we finished construction on the annex building which allowed us to move our business office out of the main building and just across the parking lot, thus reducing the amount of noise in the funeral home created by office equipment. In 2002, we installed our crematory located at St. Augustine Memorial Park. We are the only funeral home in St. Augustine who own and operate a crematory, allowing us to have total control over the cremation process. In 2005, the funeral home had its interior redecorated to bring in more light and update the furnishings. We have always strived to continue to update our facilities and services to provide our families that allow us to serve them with the highest quality.

Private Ambulance Service

Today, ambulance service and emergency transport is handled by the city or county fire rescue department, but before they took over this service it was provided by local funeral homes. Just as other funeral homes, Craig Funeral Home operated a private ambulance service form 1918 until the mid 1970’s. Many people in St. Augustine where transported to local hospitals in one of our hearses that also doubled as an ambulance.

St. Augustine Volunteer Life Guard Corps. Season, 1933

Picture taken in front of a Craig Funeral Home ambulance 

Augustus Hedrick Craig
1884 - 1943

Mr. Craig was born on October 1, 1884 in Orange County, North Carolina to William Paisley and Mary Smith Craig. Mr. Craig along with his brother, Ezra moved to Florida in 1911, to work as carpenters for the Florida East Coast Railroad Co. In 1914 Mr. Craig became a Deputy with the St. Augustine Police Department and later became the Captain of Police and a Deputy Marshal. On February 4, 1915, Mr. A.H. Craig and Willie Lee Bush where married in St. Augustine. Also in 1915, Mr. Craig went to work at L.F. Sanchez Funeral Home which was established in 1899. Mr. Craig became a partner in the business and in 1918 the name was changed to L.F. Sanchez & Craig Funeral Directors. In 1934 the name was change once again to Craig Funeral Home, Inc.

Mr. and Mrs. Craig had three sons, Augustus Hedrick Craig, Jr. in 1920, William P. Craig, II in 1922 and Stuart Grady Craig in 1925. Sadly on Wednesday, September 1, 1943, Mr. Craig passed away and was interred at Evergreen Cemetery in St. Augustine.

A.H. “Gus” Craig, Jr.
1920-2008

A.H. "Gus" Craig, Jr. Born in St. Augustine in 1920 to Augustus Hedrick and Willie Mae Craig the second of three sons. He was a graduate of the Ketterlinus High School and the University of Florida and Cincinnati School of Mortuary Science. Gus served in the US Navy as a Naval Aviation Cadet on the Murmansk Run to Russia in 1943. He spent 18 years in the Florida Legislature. An active member of the Trinity Episcopal Church, St. Augustine Jaycees, Boy Scouts of America, St. Augustine Rotary Club, St. Augustine Chamber of Commerce, Ashlar Lodge #98 F&AM, American Cancer Society, St. Johns County Chapter of the American Red Cross and the Salvation Army. Known to most of St. Augustine Residents as “Mr. Gus”.

Three Generations of the Craig Family

From Left to Right, Justin Craig, Gus Craig, III and Gus Craig, IV