Perry Justice, Former Sheriff, Funeral Home Director, Dies
Lexington Herald-Leader ~ 8/2/1990
PIKEVILLE -- Perry A. Justice, a former Pike County sheriff and funeral home operator, died Tuesday at St. Joseph Hospital in Lexington after a short illness. Mr. Justice, who lived on Town Mountain Road, was 68.
He was sheriff from 1966 to 1970.
He founded Justice Funeral Home in Pikeville in 1951 and left the funeral home business about two years ago.
Mr. Justice was a former president of the Kentucky Sheriffs' Association and a member of Grace Baptist Church in Shelbiana.
Active in Masonic and Shrine organizations, he was a past master of Thomas E. Cecil Lodge No. 375 and a past potentate of El Hasa Shrine.
He was a World War II veteran.
He is survived by his wife, Charlene Adkins Justice; two sons, Gary K. Justice of Pikeville and Richard D. Justice of Bradenton, Fla.; a stepson, John A. Adkins of Pikeville; three brothers; two sisters; and six grandchildren.
Visitation will be after 6 p.m. today at J.W. Call & Son Funeral Home. Other arrangements were incomplete.
I'm sure ole Perry is turning in his grave, utterly disgusted at what became of his funeral parlor and its reputation. Following his death, sons Richard and Gary took over the management of Justice Funeral Home, eventually bumping heads one too many times and leading to Gary moving on and buying the J.W. Call & Son Funeral Home Perry was laid out in. At some point around or before 2002, Richard began to defraud his customers, spending the money they had prepaid for the funeral and burial expenses instead of securing the funds in a trust, as required by law. He also failed to license either the funeral home or himself as a funeral director. He would ultimately be sentenced to 30 months in prison on 24 counts of insurance and funeral services fraud, and the Justice Funeral Home would close, reopening as the Pikeville Funeral Home after being bought by Paul Burchell. See previous blog entries for details: Fraudulent Pike County Funeral Director Charged with 19 Felonies (2/8/2007), Justice Finds Justice...Kinda (7/5/2008)
