Henderson resigns as Floyd County coroner
A judge indicates Chief Deputy Coroner Gene Proctor will fill the vacancy.
Surrounded by other local constitutional officers and law enforcement leaders, Floyd County Coroner Barry Henderson announced his resignation Friday afternoon.
Henderson, 57, cited personal and health reasons for his resignation. “I don’t want to get older any faster,” Henderson told RN-T. He said he wanted to spend more time with his family and did not need to deal with the stress of serving as coroner and owner of a funeral home business.
Probate Judge Steve Burkhalter indicated it was his intent to appoint Chief Deputy Coroner Gene Proctor to the coroner’s job. Proctor was not at the press conference Friday. The office will be up for election again in the 2020 election cycle.
“The coroner’s office is an awesome responsibility,” Henderson said. “I’ve been involved in every case that has taken place in Floyd County since I became coroner. I may not have been the actual investigator, but I have been involved in every one. I started signing every death certificate as coroner regardless who worked the investigation. That kept me with my thumb on every investigation.”
Henderson said his resignation will be effective when Proctor is sworn in.
In response to questions from the Rome News-Tribune, Henderson said he never solicited a funeral referral as a result of his service. “If the fact that I have served and have been transparent, visible and accessible to the residents of Floyd County and they have seen my character, they have seen my honesty and they have seen my integrity, then so be it,” Henderson said. He also said that after 18 years of service he will not draw any retirement benefits from the county.
Henderson said he believes he can work for change in the Coroner’s office better from the outside. He has long felt the office should be elected on a non-partisan basis. After his initial appointment, Henderson was elected to the office as a Democrat in 2000, 2004, 2008 and 2012. He joined the GOP in 2015 and won the seat again in 2016 on the Republican ticket.
Henderson has also been a long advocate for the creation of a formal morgue for Floyd County. “It has been a necessity for so long,” Henderson said. “Now it needs to become a priority because the people of Floyd County deserve it.”
“It has been an honor,” Henderson said. “When Judge Burkhalter first appointed me (March 1999) I thought for the first month, ‘What in the heck have I done?’ It’s been a team effort.” Henderson recalled many of those who have served as deputy coroners from Stanley Payne to Tony Cooper, Ernie Studard and Gene Proctor, his current chief deputy coroner. Daniel Helton and Brent Whatley also currently serve as deputy coroners.
“I’m hoping that I can be a voice of reason, I’m hoping that I can be a voice for change to improve, update the coroner’s office of Floyd County,” Henderson said.