Dockery’s Funeral Home

Located in Shelby, North Carolina, Dockery’s Funeral Home once stood as a pillar of compassion and support for grieving families in the community. Since funeral homes tended to be segregated spaces, morticians were one of the few employment opportunities for African American men during segregation. In the fledgling Freedmon community of East Shelby, Carl Dockery became one of the earliest business owners after acquiring a college education and learning the trade of mortician. He founded Dockery’s Funeral Home and Dockery’s Mutual Burial Association in 1931.

On October 17, 1937, Carl Dockery, Sr. and his wife Alma Goins Dockery welcomed the birth of their first and only son, Carl James Dockery, Jr. Carl Jr., as he was referred to, attended Cleveland School in Shelby and graduated from Richmond High School in Richmond, Indiana in 1956. He received his formal education from Tuskegee Institute, with a Bachelor of Science degree in Electronics in 1962. While attending Tuskegee, Carl Jr. met his future wife, Chloe Runderson of Mobile, Alabama. After graduation, they married and Carl Jr. enlisted in the United States Army in the 26 Artillery Group (Air Defense) as a Missile Tracking Radar Operator. He was honorably discharged in August 1964. A month before he was discharged from the Army, Carl and Chloe had their first and only son. Carl James Dockery III was born on July 1, 1964.

Carl Dockery, Jr. and his family returned to Shelby where he established Dockery’s Electronics and became involved in the family’s funeral business. He helped his father prepare funeral arrangements and drive the hearse during his formative years at the funeral home. To the delight of his father, Carl Jr. entered mortuary school to demonstrate his dedication to the family’s business. He excelled and received a multitude of awards including a Certificate of Proficiency in Applied Embalming and Restorative Art. In September 1969, Carl Dockery, Jr. received his Mortuary of Science degree from Cincinnati College of Mortuary Science in Ohio.

In 1975, Carl Dockery, Jr. was at the forefront of the campaign to legalize alcoholic beverages in Cleveland County, North Carolina. Following the successful passage of the measure, which Black voters significantly supported, he was appointed to the Alcohol Beverage Control Board. He served as chair of the board until his death. Additionally, Carl Jr. served on the Cleveland County Human Relations Council Committee in 1996 and received an Outstanding Community Service Award for his work. He was a lifetime member of the NAACP and was very active in the Civil Rights Movement. In 2018, he was the recipient of the NAACP Image Award. Carl Jr. was the first president of the Western District Funeral Directors and Morticians Association of North Carolina. At the time of his death, he was serving as Emeritus.

Carl Dockery III graduated from Shelby High School in 1982 and was a member of the swim team. Like his grandfather and father, he decided to become a mortician and attended Gumpton Jones School of Mortuary Science in Atlanta. After graduating, he came back to Shelby to work with his family. In April 2000, Carl Jr.’s mother, Alma Goins Dockery, died at the age of 88. His father, Carl Dockery, Sr. died the following year, in September 2001, at the age of 93. Sadly, Carl Dockery III died in 2004 at the age of 39. To complicate matters, Dockery’s Funeral Home hit hardship and faced foreclosure with debts totaling more than $250,000.

Despite the recent deaths of his parents and son, Carl Jr. continued to operate the funeral home. Before closing in 2019, due to his declining health, Dockery’s was one of the oldest continuously operating funeral homes in the region. His wife, Chloe Dockery, died in February 2021 at the age of 84. Carl Dockery, Jr. died later that year, in October 2021, at the age of 83. The Dockery family is buried at Webb Memorial Gardens in Shelby. Dockery Funeral Home remained vacant and abandoned for several years. The funeral home was cleaned out and eventually sold in August 2025, closing the chapter on one of North Carolina’s oldest funeral homes.

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