BLOUNT COUNTY, Tenn. — East Tennessee honored and remembered Blount County Deputy Greg McCowan on Wednesday as he was laid to rest.
A memorial service with full police honors was held at Sevier Heights Baptist Church off Alcoa Highway in Knox County. After the service, a long procession took him to Grandview Cemetery in Maryville where he was laid to rest.
The day began after a procession of law enforcement officers escorted McCowan's hearse from Maryville to the church Wednesday morning.
Governor Bill Lee attended the funeral and ordered flags to be flown at half-staff over the Tennessee Capitol from sunrise to sunset on Wednesday in honor of Deputy McCowan.
"Today, flags over the State Capitol will be lowered in remembrance of Deputy Greg McGowan, who laid down his life to protect and serve Tennesseans. Maria and I continue to lift his family & loved ones up in prayer," he said.
Flags lined the roads in Blount and Knox counties along the procession route to honor McCowan and his family. Law enforcement officers and other first responders from across East Tennessee arrived to pay their respects.
East Tennessee Honors and Remembers Deputy Greg McCowan
The 43-year-old Blount County deputy was full of love and life, according to his obituary, and liked dirt track racing, boating, restoring cars, and traveling among other things.
Some of the messages on the cruiser said, "Thank you for your service," "I’m sorry for what happened," "Wish you were still here.'’
Endless messages keep coming in online and some said, "Thank you for your bravery," "You’ll forever be in our hearts," and "Thank you for protecting us."
The deputy leaves a fiancé, children, a granddaughter, and a whole family behind.
Blount County Sheriff James Berrong said he and his deputies are finally able to grieve with the family after officers arrested the fugitive accused of killing Deputy McCowan in Knoxville on Tuesday.
“Just watching them and seeing their emotions and what they’ve been through for a number of days… we haven’t had time to grieve. Now we can go to the funeral tomorrow with the family and sit there and grieve with them,” he said.
The funeral began with a recording of the National Anthem -- and it was sung by the Blount County deputy who was wounded in the same shooting that killed McCowan last Thursday: Deputy Shelby Eggers. The recording was from when she sang the anthem during Knox County Deputy Tucker Blakely's funeral in October 2023. Eggers attended the funeral as she continued to recover from being shot, and near the end of the funeral -- the room stood and applauded her.
Billy Radford, one of McCowan's best friends, spoke through tears at the funeral. He remembered McCowan not only as a good friend -- but as one of his own.
"Though we may not be blood, I lost my brother, and my family,” Radford said.
Greg Willis, another one of McCowan's best friends, spoke about his unbreakable bond with him through the years.
"If I needed somebody the most, I could call on him," Willis said. "Little does he know he's still right there because he will never leave me. It went farther than a brotherhood. It went farther than a friendship. I loved him."
“When we met, we were actually building boats together at Mastercraft,” Willis said. “He was very direct. What he said you could trust him and he was a man that loved with his whole heart when he loved.”
After hearing from his friends and fellow law enforcement officers, deputies presented folded American flags that traveled with McCowan's coffin during various points of the week to those who knew and loved him, including Sheriff Berrong, McCowan's mother, and McCowan's fiancee.
The Blount County Sheriff's Office invited people to stand along safe portions of the procession route after the funeral from Sevier Heights Baptist Church to Grandview Cemetery in Maryville as McCowan was taken to his final resting place on Wednesday afternoon.
Hundreds of people stood along the road holding flags and paying their respects as a miles-long line of law enforcement vehicles drove the route from Alcoa Highway, Hall Road and Tuckaleechee Pike in Maryville.
Friends, family and coworkers gathered by the hundreds at McCowan's final resting place at Grandview Cemetery. As they paid their final respects and said their goodbyes, one last radio call came for Deputy McCowan from the Blount County Communications Center.
"Deputy McCowan, we have it from here," the dispatcher said. "He served his community for the last four years with dignity and pride."
