Longtime Gladewater mortician dies
Johnnie McCauley, the son of Gladewater's earliest funeral home to serve black residents, was remembered Tuesday for his attention to detail, service to fellow morticians and appreciation for families in their time of vulnerability.
"He's the only one we've used since being in Gladewater," local resident Lovenia Owens said. "He worked with me when my husband died ... That's the reason I just fell in love with him."
McCauley, 81, died Sunday at a Tyler hospice center following a lengthy illness. He owned McCauley & Sons Funeral Home in Gladewater for more than 40 years, and he directed Bigham Mortuary in Longview for about 25 years. He was also a past board member for the National Funeral Directors and Morticians' Association, according to Longview resident and Gladewater native Vabbie Fortson.
He is survived by his wife, Mary Lois, two sons and six daughters. Services are scheduled for 4 p.m. at First Baptist Church, 300 W. Upshur Ave. in Gladewater.
Despite his death, funeral directors in Gladewater said local mortuaries will likely continue to serve either predominantly black or non-black customers. However, McCauley & Sons, like other mortuaries, never refused nor will ever refuse service to any customer based on race, directors said.
"No one has ever been turned down for any reason by any of the funeral homes," said Leward LeFleur, director of Croley Funeral Home in Gladewater and Gilmer. "If someone needed help from one of the other funeral homes, I knew I could get on the phone with (Dearion and Davis Funeral Home) or Johnnie and ... anything that needed to be done would get done."
McCauley was born January 28, 1929 in Dallas, and was raised in nearby Winona.
McCauley's father, O.W. McCauley, founded McCauley & Sons in 1935, when the Boston Red Sox operated a minor league baseball team in Gladewater, and four years after the first nearby oil well blew in.
McCauley did not follow his father's footsteps initially, choosing instead to serve as a band director. He worked for schools in Carthage, Paris and Wichita Falls until the 1960s when his mother died and his father took ill, his wife said.
His father died in 1966, two years before McCauley graduated from mortuary school, his wife said.
McCauley & Sons remained Gladewater's only funeral home known for serving black customers until the 1990s, when Dearion & Davis opened.
Dearing & Davis Funeral Director Rodney Hawley, and owner Gregory Dearion, attributed their starts to McCauley. During a spring 2009 community-wide appreciation service for McCauley, Dearion said McCauley gave him his start, and that his father worked with O.W. McCauley.
Hawley said Tuesday his admiration for McCauley started in youth, when he joined the director on funeral services. McCauley told Hawley's parents that Hawley would one day direct, provide music for and preach at funerals. While he does not preach, Hawley also serves as a musician at services.
"He taught me a lot of what I know," Hawley said. "My grandfather and uncle, we all got our start with him."
Fortson said her mother, Owens, wanted to plan an expensive, elaborate funeral when Owens' husband passed away several years ago. Fortson said she still remembers the words McCauley said that forever left him dear to Owens' heart.
"When my father passed away, my mother was grief-stricken, and she wanted to have an elaborate service," Fortson remembered. "(McCauley) said to her, ‘I know you loved Cleon, and I know Cleon loved you, but you're going to have to live after the (funeral) service. I know you want the best, and I'm going to give you the best. I can sell you anything you want in these books, but I know until you get your money started, you're going to have to live.'"
After the service, Owens stipulated in her will that, if she died after McCauley, she wanted no other funeral home to take care of her needs but McCauley & Sons, Fortson said.
"When someone could not make a person presentable, they would say, ‘If Johnnie couldn't do it, it couldn't be done,'" Fortson said. "We didn't worry about anything. It was a wonderful service, and you were not broke after the service."
The Better Business Bureau gave McCauley & Sons its highest accreditation rating, according to its website. The bureau's only recorded complaint against the mortuary in the past three years has been resolved, records showed.
Hawley added that Gladewater is like a family, and that everyone works together including in the funeral industry. There has never been an issue between funeral homes about which segment of the public it serves or does not serve, he said.
"We just call on each other," Hawley said. "Even in the days of (late mortician) Malcolm Stone, the white funeral home which turned into Stone-Goodwin, they always had a good relationship with Mr. McCauley."
LaFleur added that McCauley served people's needs with dignity for many years in Gladewater, and that his character will be hard to replace. He likened McCauley's death to the 1952 death of Croley Cook, who founded Croley Funeral Home in 1882. After Cook's death, a huge void remained in the community, but his family picked up his business where he left off, and it still provides services "exactly the way he (Cook) would have done them.
"You think along the lines of what that person would have wanted, and obviously, it's going to continue," LaFleur said. "(McCauley) has a lot of traditions and ideas and ways of doing things that might have passed away with him, but we'll continue to do those things here in Gladewater because it's the right way to do them."
Burial took place July 29 at Gladewater Memorial Park.
Johnnie McCauley, the son of Gladewater's earliest funeral home to serve black residents, was remembered Tuesday for his attention to detail, service to fellow morticians and appreciation for families in their time of vulnerability.
"He's the only one we've used since being in Gladewater," local resident Lovenia Owens said. "He worked with me when my husband died ... That's the reason I just fell in love with him."
McCauley, 81, died Sunday at a Tyler hospice center following a lengthy illness. He owned McCauley & Sons Funeral Home in Gladewater for more than 40 years, and he directed Bigham Mortuary in Longview for about 25 years. He was also a past board member for the National Funeral Directors and Morticians' Association, according to Longview resident and Gladewater native Vabbie Fortson.
He is survived by his wife, Mary Lois, two sons and six daughters. Services are scheduled for 4 p.m. at First Baptist Church, 300 W. Upshur Ave. in Gladewater.
Despite his death, funeral directors in Gladewater said local mortuaries will likely continue to serve either predominantly black or non-black customers. However, McCauley & Sons, like other mortuaries, never refused nor will ever refuse service to any customer based on race, directors said.
"No one has ever been turned down for any reason by any of the funeral homes," said Leward LeFleur, director of Croley Funeral Home in Gladewater and Gilmer. "If someone needed help from one of the other funeral homes, I knew I could get on the phone with (Dearion and Davis Funeral Home) or Johnnie and ... anything that needed to be done would get done."
McCauley was born January 28, 1929 in Dallas, and was raised in nearby Winona.
McCauley's father, O.W. McCauley, founded McCauley & Sons in 1935, when the Boston Red Sox operated a minor league baseball team in Gladewater, and four years after the first nearby oil well blew in.
McCauley did not follow his father's footsteps initially, choosing instead to serve as a band director. He worked for schools in Carthage, Paris and Wichita Falls until the 1960s when his mother died and his father took ill, his wife said.
His father died in 1966, two years before McCauley graduated from mortuary school, his wife said.
McCauley & Sons remained Gladewater's only funeral home known for serving black customers until the 1990s, when Dearion & Davis opened.
Dearing & Davis Funeral Director Rodney Hawley, and owner Gregory Dearion, attributed their starts to McCauley. During a spring 2009 community-wide appreciation service for McCauley, Dearion said McCauley gave him his start, and that his father worked with O.W. McCauley.
Hawley said Tuesday his admiration for McCauley started in youth, when he joined the director on funeral services. McCauley told Hawley's parents that Hawley would one day direct, provide music for and preach at funerals. While he does not preach, Hawley also serves as a musician at services.
"He taught me a lot of what I know," Hawley said. "My grandfather and uncle, we all got our start with him."
Fortson said her mother, Owens, wanted to plan an expensive, elaborate funeral when Owens' husband passed away several years ago. Fortson said she still remembers the words McCauley said that forever left him dear to Owens' heart.
"When my father passed away, my mother was grief-stricken, and she wanted to have an elaborate service," Fortson remembered. "(McCauley) said to her, ‘I know you loved Cleon, and I know Cleon loved you, but you're going to have to live after the (funeral) service. I know you want the best, and I'm going to give you the best. I can sell you anything you want in these books, but I know until you get your money started, you're going to have to live.'"
After the service, Owens stipulated in her will that, if she died after McCauley, she wanted no other funeral home to take care of her needs but McCauley & Sons, Fortson said.
"When someone could not make a person presentable, they would say, ‘If Johnnie couldn't do it, it couldn't be done,'" Fortson said. "We didn't worry about anything. It was a wonderful service, and you were not broke after the service."
The Better Business Bureau gave McCauley & Sons its highest accreditation rating, according to its website. The bureau's only recorded complaint against the mortuary in the past three years has been resolved, records showed.
Hawley added that Gladewater is like a family, and that everyone works together including in the funeral industry. There has never been an issue between funeral homes about which segment of the public it serves or does not serve, he said.
"We just call on each other," Hawley said. "Even in the days of (late mortician) Malcolm Stone, the white funeral home which turned into Stone-Goodwin, they always had a good relationship with Mr. McCauley."
LaFleur added that McCauley served people's needs with dignity for many years in Gladewater, and that his character will be hard to replace. He likened McCauley's death to the 1952 death of Croley Cook, who founded Croley Funeral Home in 1882. After Cook's death, a huge void remained in the community, but his family picked up his business where he left off, and it still provides services "exactly the way he (Cook) would have done them.
"You think along the lines of what that person would have wanted, and obviously, it's going to continue," LaFleur said. "(McCauley) has a lot of traditions and ideas and ways of doing things that might have passed away with him, but we'll continue to do those things here in Gladewater because it's the right way to do them."
Burial took place July 29 at Gladewater Memorial Park.
Longtime Gladewater mortician dies
Johnnie McCauley, the son of Gladewater's earliest funeral home to serve black residents, was remembered Tuesday for his attention to detail, service to fellow morticians and appreciation for families in their time of vulnerability.
"He's the only one we've used since being in Gladewater," local resident Lovenia Owens said. "He worked with me when my husband died ... That's the reason I just fell in love with him."
McCauley, 81, died Sunday at a Tyler hospice center following a lengthy illness. He owned McCauley & Sons Funeral Home in Gladewater for more than 40 years, and he directed Bigham Mortuary in Longview for about 25 years. He was also a past board member for the National Funeral Directors and Morticians' Association, according to Longview resident and Gladewater native Vabbie Fortson.
He is survived by his wife, Mary Lois, two sons and six daughters. Services are scheduled for 4 p.m. at First Baptist Church, 300 W. Upshur Ave. in Gladewater.
Despite his death, funeral directors in Gladewater said local mortuaries will likely continue to serve either predominantly black or non-black customers. However, McCauley & Sons, like other mortuaries, never refused nor will ever refuse service to any customer based on race, directors said.
"No one has ever been turned down for any reason by any of the funeral homes," said Leward LeFleur, director of Croley Funeral Home in Gladewater and Gilmer. "If someone needed help from one of the other funeral homes, I knew I could get on the phone with (Dearion and Davis Funeral Home) or Johnnie and ... anything that needed to be done would get done."
McCauley was born January 28, 1929 in Dallas, and was raised in nearby Winona.
McCauley's father, O.W. McCauley, founded McCauley & Sons in 1935, when the Boston Red Sox operated a minor league baseball team in Gladewater, and four years after the first nearby oil well blew in.
McCauley did not follow his father's footsteps initially, choosing instead to serve as a band director. He worked for schools in Carthage, Paris and Wichita Falls until the 1960s when his mother died and his father took ill, his wife said.
His father died in 1966, two years before McCauley graduated from mortuary school, his wife said.
McCauley & Sons remained Gladewater's only funeral home known for serving black customers until the 1990s, when Dearion & Davis opened.
Dearing & Davis Funeral Director Rodney Hawley, and owner Gregory Dearion, attributed their starts to McCauley. During a spring 2009 community-wide appreciation service for McCauley, Dearion said McCauley gave him his start, and that his father worked with O.W. McCauley.
Hawley said Tuesday his admiration for McCauley started in youth, when he joined the director on funeral services. McCauley told Hawley's parents that Hawley would one day direct, provide music for and preach at funerals. While he does not preach, Hawley also serves as a musician at services.
"He taught me a lot of what I know," Hawley said. "My grandfather and uncle, we all got our start with him."
Fortson said her mother, Owens, wanted to plan an expensive, elaborate funeral when Owens' husband passed away several years ago. Fortson said she still remembers the words McCauley said that forever left him dear to Owens' heart.
"When my father passed away, my mother was grief-stricken, and she wanted to have an elaborate service," Fortson remembered. "(McCauley) said to her, ‘I know you loved Cleon, and I know Cleon loved you, but you're going to have to live after the (funeral) service. I know you want the best, and I'm going to give you the best. I can sell you anything you want in these books, but I know until you get your money started, you're going to have to live.'"
After the service, Owens stipulated in her will that, if she died after McCauley, she wanted no other funeral home to take care of her needs but McCauley & Sons, Fortson said.
"When someone could not make a person presentable, they would say, ‘If Johnnie couldn't do it, it couldn't be done,'" Fortson said. "We didn't worry about anything. It was a wonderful service, and you were not broke after the service."
The Better Business Bureau gave McCauley & Sons its highest accreditation rating, according to its website. The bureau's only recorded complaint against the mortuary in the past three years has been resolved, records showed.
Hawley added that Gladewater is like a family, and that everyone works together including in the funeral industry. There has never been an issue between funeral homes about which segment of the public it serves or does not serve, he said.
"We just call on each other," Hawley said. "Even in the days of (late mortician) Malcolm Stone, the white funeral home which turned into Stone-Goodwin, they always had a good relationship with Mr. McCauley."
LaFleur added that McCauley served people's needs with dignity for many years in Gladewater, and that his character will be hard to replace. He likened McCauley's death to the 1952 death of Croley Cook, who founded Croley Funeral Home in 1882. After Cook's death, a huge void remained in the community, but his family picked up his business where he left off, and it still provides services "exactly the way he (Cook) would have done them.
"You think along the lines of what that person would have wanted, and obviously, it's going to continue," LaFleur said. "(McCauley) has a lot of traditions and ideas and ways of doing things that might have passed away with him, but we'll continue to do those things here in Gladewater because it's the right way to do them."
Burial took place July 29 at Gladewater Memorial Park.
Johnnie McCauley, the son of Gladewater's earliest funeral home to serve black residents, was remembered Tuesday for his attention to detail, service to fellow morticians and appreciation for families in their time of vulnerability.
"He's the only one we've used since being in Gladewater," local resident Lovenia Owens said. "He worked with me when my husband died ... That's the reason I just fell in love with him."
McCauley, 81, died Sunday at a Tyler hospice center following a lengthy illness. He owned McCauley & Sons Funeral Home in Gladewater for more than 40 years, and he directed Bigham Mortuary in Longview for about 25 years. He was also a past board member for the National Funeral Directors and Morticians' Association, according to Longview resident and Gladewater native Vabbie Fortson.
He is survived by his wife, Mary Lois, two sons and six daughters. Services are scheduled for 4 p.m. at First Baptist Church, 300 W. Upshur Ave. in Gladewater.
Despite his death, funeral directors in Gladewater said local mortuaries will likely continue to serve either predominantly black or non-black customers. However, McCauley & Sons, like other mortuaries, never refused nor will ever refuse service to any customer based on race, directors said.
"No one has ever been turned down for any reason by any of the funeral homes," said Leward LeFleur, director of Croley Funeral Home in Gladewater and Gilmer. "If someone needed help from one of the other funeral homes, I knew I could get on the phone with (Dearion and Davis Funeral Home) or Johnnie and ... anything that needed to be done would get done."
McCauley was born January 28, 1929 in Dallas, and was raised in nearby Winona.
McCauley's father, O.W. McCauley, founded McCauley & Sons in 1935, when the Boston Red Sox operated a minor league baseball team in Gladewater, and four years after the first nearby oil well blew in.
McCauley did not follow his father's footsteps initially, choosing instead to serve as a band director. He worked for schools in Carthage, Paris and Wichita Falls until the 1960s when his mother died and his father took ill, his wife said.
His father died in 1966, two years before McCauley graduated from mortuary school, his wife said.
McCauley & Sons remained Gladewater's only funeral home known for serving black customers until the 1990s, when Dearion & Davis opened.
Dearing & Davis Funeral Director Rodney Hawley, and owner Gregory Dearion, attributed their starts to McCauley. During a spring 2009 community-wide appreciation service for McCauley, Dearion said McCauley gave him his start, and that his father worked with O.W. McCauley.
Hawley said Tuesday his admiration for McCauley started in youth, when he joined the director on funeral services. McCauley told Hawley's parents that Hawley would one day direct, provide music for and preach at funerals. While he does not preach, Hawley also serves as a musician at services.
"He taught me a lot of what I know," Hawley said. "My grandfather and uncle, we all got our start with him."
Fortson said her mother, Owens, wanted to plan an expensive, elaborate funeral when Owens' husband passed away several years ago. Fortson said she still remembers the words McCauley said that forever left him dear to Owens' heart.
"When my father passed away, my mother was grief-stricken, and she wanted to have an elaborate service," Fortson remembered. "(McCauley) said to her, ‘I know you loved Cleon, and I know Cleon loved you, but you're going to have to live after the (funeral) service. I know you want the best, and I'm going to give you the best. I can sell you anything you want in these books, but I know until you get your money started, you're going to have to live.'"
After the service, Owens stipulated in her will that, if she died after McCauley, she wanted no other funeral home to take care of her needs but McCauley & Sons, Fortson said.
"When someone could not make a person presentable, they would say, ‘If Johnnie couldn't do it, it couldn't be done,'" Fortson said. "We didn't worry about anything. It was a wonderful service, and you were not broke after the service."
The Better Business Bureau gave McCauley & Sons its highest accreditation rating, according to its website. The bureau's only recorded complaint against the mortuary in the past three years has been resolved, records showed.
Hawley added that Gladewater is like a family, and that everyone works together including in the funeral industry. There has never been an issue between funeral homes about which segment of the public it serves or does not serve, he said.
"We just call on each other," Hawley said. "Even in the days of (late mortician) Malcolm Stone, the white funeral home which turned into Stone-Goodwin, they always had a good relationship with Mr. McCauley."
LaFleur added that McCauley served people's needs with dignity for many years in Gladewater, and that his character will be hard to replace. He likened McCauley's death to the 1952 death of Croley Cook, who founded Croley Funeral Home in 1882. After Cook's death, a huge void remained in the community, but his family picked up his business where he left off, and it still provides services "exactly the way he (Cook) would have done them.
"You think along the lines of what that person would have wanted, and obviously, it's going to continue," LaFleur said. "(McCauley) has a lot of traditions and ideas and ways of doing things that might have passed away with him, but we'll continue to do those things here in Gladewater because it's the right way to do them."
Burial took place July 29 at Gladewater Memorial Park.
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