Lebanon, Stoutland funeral homes change hands

T.J. and DeLores Shadel sold their funeral homes in Lebanon and Stoutland in 1988 to Houston, Texas-based Service Corporation International, owner of more than 1,400 funeral homes and cemeteries worldwide.

On Aug. 17, their son, Rusty Shadel, bought them back.

“Our places just came available and I was fortunate enough to buy them,” Rusty Shadel said.

While it’s a heartwarming story of family businesses coming back under family ownership, it’s not likely to lead to sweeping changes at Shadel’s Colonial Chapel in Lebanon and Shadel’s Colonial Chapel in Stoutland. Shadel had managed those and other properties for SCI for 18 years.

Those properties became available when SCI decided they didn’t fit into the company’s growth strategy, according to spokeswoman Robyn Sadowsky, who declined to explain further.

SCI still owns more than 40 properties in Missouri.

See SBJ’s Oct. 30 issue for more news on local funeral homes.