DALE COUNTY: Today marks forty years since I first stepped into the funeral home back in 1986, not knowing a thing about what the future held. I was young, unsure, and had no idea how much this calling would shape my life. Over the years, I’ve been blessed with incredible mentors who guided me, encouraged me, and helped mold me into the funeral director I am today. I will always be grateful for their wisdom and kindness.
With a lot of prayer, faith, and the support of those who believed in me, I’ve grown in ways I never could have imagined. It has been one of the greatest honors of my life to serve this community—first as a funeral director and now as the coroner of our county.
Forty years later, my heart is still in this work, and I look forward to many more years of serving the people who mean so much to me.
John Cawley, with the assistance of the Dale County Commission, has one of the most modern Coroner’s Office in Dale County. They have a office, a morgue equipped to hold six bodies, a viewing area that is peaceful and decorated in a peaceful setting if a family has to come in and identify the deceased. They have two Coroner cans, one in Ozark and one in Daleville. Dale County pays off duty law enforcement officers to transport bodies to Montgomery and leaves one van in the county if any deaths happen while van gone. One van remains in Daleville and a Deputy Coroner there so response time is not long. Coroner JOhn Cawley has several Deputy Coroners who assist and are only paid on a per call basis.
With the volume of calls handled by the Dale County Coroner’s Office, he is paid as one of the lowest paid Coroner’s, however has the most professional office’s. The county commission has funded the office to make it very professional.
