Joe Hagan - The Presidents' Funeral Director  

On Friday, May 5, 2000, funeral service lost one of its greatest - Joseph E. Hagan. With a funeral service career spanning 52 years at Joseph Gawler's Sons Funeral Home in Washington, D.C., Hagan was known for arranging and directing the funerals of some of the highest government officials in the country, including presidents, Supreme Court justices, senators and other diplomats. Assisting in the funerals of notables such as President Dwight Eisenhower, FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover and U.S. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, he was most noted for directing the highly profiled funeral of President John F. Kennedy in November 1963.

The story of Hagan's funeral service career starts with the death of his father, who died in an automobile accident when Hagan was 13 years old. As a common tradition in the 1930s, his father's body was returned to the family home where funeral services were held.

During an interview in 1997, he recollected the moment: "I remember being very impressed with the funeral director's kindness and support during this troubled time."

His interest in funeral service was heightened in high school when he was offered a part-time job at Roche Funeral Home in his hometown of Mobile, AL. Hagan joined the U.S. Marine Corps during World War II and served four years, including 31 months overseas. Following the war, he and his wife, Mary, lived in Washington, D.C., where he received his funeral director/embalming license in 1948 after completing an internship. Aware of Gawler's high international reputation for distinguished service, Hagan was determined to work for the firm. He applied for employment and was hired after waiting 18 months for an opening. Service Corporation International (SCI) acquired the funeral home in 1970, and Hagan served as district manager for SCI before becoming an area vice president in 1987. In 1994, he stepped down from that position but continued to serve as an SCI consultant.

He served as an NFDA district governor from 1982 to 1985. In 1991, he received NFDA's Special Recognition Award and was presented with the President's Award in 1996 for serving families of our nation's leaders with distinction in funeral service. On November 14, 1998, more than 220 people gathered in the Cannon Caucus Room of the U.S. House of Representatives Cannon Office Building in Washington, D.C., to celebrate his 50 years in funeral service.