Joe W. Dickens, Jr.

Joe Willie Dickens, Jr. had decided by sixth grade in elementary school that he wanted to be a funeral director. His parents, teachers and fellow students all knew of his passion for funeral service. His senior year in high school his classmates predicted that he would have the first funeral home on the moon.

Joe's desire to enter into funeral service faced several obstacles but he never lost site of his goal. It was impossible for him to get an apprenticeship with a local funeral home. Because of his living and working on the farm and his involvement in vocational agriculture classes at his local high school he decided to enroll at North Carolina A&T State University in Greensboro and pursue a degree in Agriculture Education.

During the fall semester of his sophomore year at A&T he decided he would move off campus and get an apartment in the city. When he shared his decision with the dorm counselor he encouraged Joe to consider renting a room from an elderly lady in his church who lived alone and just wanted a man in the house for security reasons.

Joe agreed to meet the lady (Mrs. S. Marjorie McLeod) but had made up his mind that he was not going to rent the room from her. A fellow classmate went with him to make sure he didn't agree to move in. After two hours of talking Joe realized that Mrs. McLeod and he was a perfect fit. She stated she would charge him five (5) dollars a week and, if he put the trash on the street for pickup on Tuesday and Friday, she would give him Sunday dinner.

Mrs. McLeod was an excellent cook and she didn't like eating by herself so she soon started preparing him dinner each day.

At dinner one night she asked Joe what did he plan to do with his degree in agriculture. He stated that he wasn't sure. That he really wanted to be a funeral director but he had not been able to convince anyone in funeral service to give him an apprenticeship.

She shared with him that she was friend to the owners of a large funeral home in Greensboro and after dinner she would call and ask him if he would consider giving Joe his apprenticeship. She called Mr. N.E. Hargett Sr., and he agreed to meet with Joe the next day.

Mr. Hargett suggested that Joe write the State Board of Mortuary Science to ask for an application to do his apprenticeship. After working for Mr. Hargett, Joe stated, "I have never met a person before or since that loved funeral service any more than Mr. N.E. Hargett, Sr.". He did his apprenticeship under the supervision of Mr. Hargett's son, Dr. N.E. Hargett, Jr. Joe said to his father once that he couldn't have gotten a better apprenticeship if he had done it under him.

In May 1975, Joe graduated from N.C. A&T State University with a B.S. Degree in Agriculture Education. He finished my apprenticeship in August 1975 and enrolled in Gupton Jones College of Mortuary Science. He graduated August 1975, and received a diploma in Mortuary Science.

He returned to his hometown of Tarboro, NC and accepted a job teaching Vocational Agriculture and doing trade embalming.

In 1983, Joe met the lady who changed his life forever, Olga Marie Thornton, and on May 26, 1984 they got married.

Joe never lost hope of achieving his goal and, on November 12, 1985 they had the official opening of Dickens Funeral Service, Inc.

Joe & Olga have been blessed with two lovely children, Joe W. Dickens III (J.W.) and Jacqueline Marie Dickens.