J udson Caldwell and his wife, Ginger, have owned and operated Caldwell & Cowan Funeral Home, Inc., since 1991.

In 2007, our new building housing both funeral home and crematory (Dogwood Hill Crematory), was completed at 1215 Access Road, Covington, adjoining our cemetery, Lawnwood Memorial Park. The new location began serving families in September of that year. Our Floyd Street location is still active and available for use by families, with the Access Road location being the primary operations center.

Caldwell & Cowan is active in National Funeral Directors Association, Selected Independent Funeral Homes, Georgia Funeral Directors Association and Independent Funeral Directors of Georgia. Our staff is active in various local and civic organizations, including Kiwanis Club, Miracle League and Newton County Chamber of Commerce. We are very active with Newton County Relay for Life, and sponsor our Relay fundraiser concert series, Concert for A Cure.

We maintain an Aftercare Program to help survivors cope with grief and grief-related issues, and offer support group meetings every Thursday evening. We have a grief library containing books, videos, brochures, and other helpful resources.

Each year in early December, we hold our Candlelight Memorial Service in the Chapel at 1215 Access Road, as a help to families as they go into the Holiday Season. Lawnwood Memorial Park also holds a Lighting of the Luminaria ceremony in the cemetery each December. Families place luminaria on the graves of their loved ones and the candles burn throughout the evening and illuminate the entire cemetery hillside.

We participate in the National Funeral Directors Association award program, Pursuit of Excellence, which awards recognition to funeral homes which excel in both professional and community education and activity. We have been awarded Pursuit of Excellence five years in a row, 2006 through 2010, and in 2007 received the Best of the Best Award for our First Steps program in conjunction with Newton Medical Center and the Covington Fire Department, which gives smoke detectors to new parents who participate in the First Steps Program at Newton Medical.

A full service funeral home, crematory and cemetery, our goal is to provide a lasting tribute with the utmost dignity and respect for the deceased, and to provide the family with the care and comfort necessary to carry them through. We strive for excellence in serving our families, and our staff is dedicated to helping each family create the kind of ceremony which is best suited to honor the life of their loved one. For those who wish a more secular type of service, we have on staff two Celebrants who are certified in creating ceremonies which are unique to the individual.

The funeral home has grown and changed over the years, but our primary focus has always been to offer compassionate and professional service to the families we serve. Our aim is not to be the biggest - just the best.