John J. Gawronski, a Norwich resident, came to Upstate New York in 2004 with his wife and three children, and settled in Norwich in 2006. John and his wife, Shannon, decided to leave the Washington, D.C., area for Upstate New York in order to raise their children in an environment similar to that enjoyed by Shannon, who was raised in nearby Greene.
John began working part-time with the Wilson Funeral Home in 2009, and soon after began to pursue a funeral director license. In January 2010, he enrolled in an online program provided by the American Academy McAllister Institute of Funeral Service (AAMI) in New York City, and began as a full-time employee of the Wilson Funeral Home in March 2010. John plans to graduate from the AAMI program in May 2011 and to complete his funeral director residency requirement at the Wilson Funeral Home. He will have all NY licensure requirements completed, and will obtain his license, in 2012.
John was listed on the AAMI “President’s List” for earning a 3.86 GPA during the summer 2010 semester. To date, John has earned a cumulative 3.92 GPA at AAMI. More recently, John received a 2010 Scholarship Award provided by the Tribute Foundation, a philanthropic arm of the New York State Funeral Directors Association that represents over 900 funeral firms and 3,500 licensed funeral directors statewide.
John earned his bachelor’s degree from the George Washington University (Washington, DC), and completed a graduate-level teacher education program at GWU. He is also a NY state certified secondary education social studies teacher.
Prior to starting with the funeral home, John worked for a time in banking, including NBT Bank, headquartered in Norwich. He has also worked at Nextel Communications and the Washington Post newspaper. His most unique work experience was during a ten-year period as a senior legislative aide for a member of the U.S. House of Representatives and as director of a congressional relations office for a national, non-profit organization of state utility regulators.
John met his wife of 15 years in Washington, D.C., where she also worked on Capitol Hill. John and Shannon are the proud parents of three beautiful children: Erin, age 14, Gabriel (“Gabe”), age 9, and Katie, age 7, each of whom is enrolled in Norwich City Schools.
Outside of work, John keeps busy with activities and events sponsored by the Norwich Family YMCA, where Shannon works as its Director of Health & Fitness. Together they coach youth basketball and indoor soccer teams, and actively assist the Norwich YMCA Dolphins swim team. John also plays in a YMCA-sponsored basketball league, and can be consistently found carrying or reading material pertaining to history and/or current events.