Beaufort County’s coroner is retiring. His office was a FEMA trailer when he started

In 1972, J. Edward Allen sat in a classroom at the Beaufort Technical Education Center — known today as Technical College of the Lowcountry.

The Beaufort native didn’t realize it then, but he was participating in a free pilot program for emergency services that would shape first response in the region.

At the time, he was working at Beaufort-Jasper Comp Health Services as director of transportation.

Among his classmates: Jasper County Coroner Martin Sauls III.

“What was a free class ended up becoming a career for me in EMS,” Allen said.

Beaufort County’s coroner sat behind his desk on a recent spring day and reflected on his career. He plans to retire at the end of the year after holding the elected position since 2008.

While Allen received a degree from the Cincinnati School of Mortuary Science and carries multiple other certifications, he sees that class in 1972 as an important moment in his career.

It put him in a position to be the first director of Beaufort County EMS.

The county government department was set up in 1974 as funeral homes decided they no longer wanted to offer ambulance services, Allen said.

Allen was the first EMS director — and also the first black EMS director in South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia and Florida.

“Often when I went to meetings — I was the only one there, like a fly in a bowl of buttermilk,” Allen said.

He was the director for 33 years before retiring in 2007. He also was a part-time deputy for the coroner’s office for many of the years he worked as EMS director.

He started working as a full-time deputy for County Coroner Curt Copeland after his EMS retirement.

Copeland retired in 2008 after holding the position since 1980. He ran the office out of his business — Copeland Funeral Home.

Before Copeland, Roger Pinckney held the position and ran the office from his house.

When Allen started, the office was a FEMA trailer that had been used for Hurricane Katrina recovery in the Gulf of Mexico.

At that time, the coroner didn’t have the space to store bodies, Allen said. All bodies were stored at area hospitals and funeral homes.

The coroner’s office was responding to about 896 deaths in 2008.

That number has climbed to 1,524 in 2019.

“When I came on board as the coroner, I wanted a designed, functioning building as a base for the coroner’s office,” Allen said.

That building was constructed 2014. It was designed to hold up to eight bodies but can be modified to hold 16.

A trailer secured via a S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Health grant can also hold up to 20 bodies, Allen said.

Allen said the building was one of his greatest accomplishments.

He also converted a van to be used for the transportation of bodies. The idea came from a visit to the Miami-Dade County Medical Examiner’s Office.

He was there to look for ways to advance the coroner’s office prior to being sworn in.

“Miami was doing their own transports,” Allen said.

The Beaufort County office was using EMS services to transport bodies.

“When I was EMS director, I always feared there was going to be a major call, and we were going to have an ambulance tied up moving a dead body,” Allen said.

Another accomplishment was the creation of Prom Promise, Allen said.

“We stage an accident and go and talk to the children about drinking and driving and drug use in hopes of preventing a crash,” Allen said.

Allen says only one fatal crash connected to prom has occurred since the program began.

“I believe we can attribute that to Prom Promise,” Allen said.

Allen said he’s ready to retire and spend his last remaining years enjoying time with his six grandchildren.

He hopes David Ott, his chief deputy coroner, will succeed him.

“David knows the operation,” Allen said. “He already has relationships. He is very capable of carrying on without any hiccup.”

Ott has held a deputy position since Allen became coroner.

A three-way race for Allen’s seat features Ott; David J. Zeoli, deputy director of Beaufort County Emergency Management; and Robert J. Blok Sr., a retired U.S. army physician.

All are filing as Republicans.

The primary election is June 9.