About Us
The Chappel Casket Company story began nearly 40 years ago, in 1986, when founder, Max
Chappel, took the knowledge of the funeral industry that he had learned throughout the years
working as Plant Manager of the Webb City, Missouri wholesale casket manufacturing business,
Rex Metallic Casket Company. With this insight, he started the wholesale casket distributor business,
Chappel Casket Company, which provides caskets & funeral-related products to the many area
funeral homes. The company had a very humble beginning, with Max storing inventory
in a building at his residence & delivering caskets out of the back of his truck. Soon, Rob Chappel,
Max’s son, began working for the company when he turned sixteen & then went on to join the
company full-time in 1993. 
In 1996, Rob met, & married, Kristy (Bowles) Chappel. Soon, at the request of several area funeral
directors, they added Chappel Crematory in 1998, a wholesale crematory business that performs
cremation services for the many area funeral homes. At this time, Rob & Kristy tested & received
their Missouri Funeral Director Limited Licenses. They both later went on to become fully licensed
Missouri Funeral Directors. In 1999, they purchased Chappel Casket Company from Max & he
retired from his position as Owner. Max continued working for the company in the repair
department, due to his expertise gained while working at Rex Metallic, for several years, until
his recent retirement from this position.
In 2005, Rob was asked to serve his community as the Jasper County Chief Deputy Coroner &
he agreed. He then went on to be elected as the Jasper County Coroner in 2009, which he served
as until his retirement in 2020. During his duration as Coroner, he assisted many law enforcement
branches, helped many grieving families & had the responsibility of the identification process of
all of the victims of the May, 2011 Joplin Tornado. Throughout this period of time, in 2007,
again at the request of several area funeral directors, Rob & Kristy began Joplin Mortuary
Service, a wholesale mortuary business that provides removal, embalming & transportation
services to funeral homes all over the United States. In 2018, Kristy attended mortuary school &
became a fully licensed Missouri Embalmer.
Over the years, all four of Rob & Kristy’s children have worked in their family business,
in some capacity or another, before going on to find their own professional callings, with
one exception. Their daughter, Brett, joined the family business in 2020, with the intention of learning every aspect of the business & continuing it into the future. She married her husband, Dallas (Peterson), & they had a son, Knox William, in late 2024. It is now Brett’s plan to bring her own children into the business when they are a little older.
“We have been so extremely blessed over the past 40 years to have so many wonderful customers,
many of which have placed their confidence in us since day one. Along the way we have made many strong
& enduring friendships with people who just started out as our customers. We have also been blessed to have employed several wonderful staff members, many of whom were hired after they retired from their first career & have become part of our family. We cannot express the amount of gratitude that we have for each & every one of our customers & the keen awareness of the amount of trust that they put in us & our team each & every day. We are profoundly grateful.”