BELLE — Sassmann’s Chapel, a longtime funeral-home presence in Belle and Bland with a legacy stretching back more than a century, is now under new ownership following the sale of the business to Ryan Freeman of Freeman Mortuary in Jefferson City.

Mike and Pam Thomas, who have operated Sassmann’s Chapel since purchasing it from Bruce and Jan Sassmann in 2013, sold Sassmann’s Chapel along with Morton Chapel in Linn and Chamois to Freeman with a Sept. 1 effective date.

The transition had been discussed for several years but was accelerated after Mike Thomas was diagnosed with stage four pancreatic cancer in January.

“We wouldn’t be having this conversation if I wasn’t sick right now,” Thomas said. “There were plans that there would be a day coming that this would happen just because of retirement. We didn’t realize it was going to be a health thing that actually did it.”

Thomas has undergone chemotherapy since March and is also being treated through MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas. Recent scans have shown shrinkage in the tumors.

For Belle and Bland families, however, Freeman said the change in ownership is intended to preserve the identity and local presence that have long defined Sassmann’s Chapel.

The Sassmann’s Chapel name and logo will remain, existing prearrangements will be honored and Freeman said he is working to retain the staff at the locations.

Kenny Dishman will continue in his primary leadership role with Sassmann’s Chapel in Belle and Bland.

Freeman said maintaining familiar faces is particularly important in the funeral business.

“When somebody comes into a funeral home, it makes them feel much more at ease when they see a familiar face,” Freeman said. “Most people are already anxious to go to a funeral, and then you walk in and don’t know anybody. That can make those feelings worse.”

Freeman said he does not want the acquisition to feel as though a Jefferson City funeral home is coming into the communities and imposing a different way of doing things. Instead, he plans to learn from the people already operating the funeral homes and from the traditions established in each community.

“The team they have built is the true Morton Chapel,” Freeman said of the existing employees. “They know more than I do right now about community traditions and how the community wants to celebrate life because every community is a little bit different.”

More than a century of Sassmann history

The transition marks another chapter in a Sassmann family funeral-service tradition that stretches across five generations.

Bruce Sassmann said the family’s involvement can be traced to his great-grandfather, George Sassmann, a carpenter who made cabinets, furniture and coffins. An advertisement discovered in a late-19th-century Gasconade County newspaper documented that work, and Sassmann believes the family’s coffin-making eventually led it into the funeral business.

The business later passed to George’s son, William Henry Sassmann, who operated a funeral home in Bland.

William Henry died in 1923 when his son, Chester, was only 5 years old. Chester’s mother, Minnie Ritterbush Sassmann, kept the business operating until Chester was old enough to take over.

Chester later attended mortuary school in St. Louis.

The business continued operating while Chester served during World War 2, with his wife, Geneva, running the operation while he was away. Following the war, Chester expanded the family business and built a funeral home in Belle.

Bruce and his brother, David, eventually joined their parents in the funeral business. David’s son, Scott, also became licensed, making him the fifth generation of the Sassmann family involved in funeral service.

For much of Bruce Sassmann’s childhood, the family operated a furniture store and funeral home under the same roof in Bland, a reflection of the historical connection between furniture makers and undertaking. The furniture business eventually disappeared, but the funeral homes remained.

As the number of family members available to continue operating the business declined, Bruce and Jan Sassmann eventually began considering who should take over.

“It took us a few years to decide on who we wanted to sell to, and all along we had wanted Mike to be the ultimate buyer,” Bruce said. “We just had to wait until the timing was right for him.”

Mike Thomas had worked professionally with the Sassmann family for years before purchasing Morton Chapel in Linn. After that purchase, Bruce said Mike and Pam increasingly became the logical choice to succeed the Sassmann family.

Mike and Pam assumed responsibility for Sassmann’s Chapel in Belle and Bland on May 1, 2013. Bruce and Jan remained involved during the transition.

Bruce said he supports the decision, 13 years later, to pass the business to Freeman.

“I’m really happy with the choice that Mike made and the buyer he chose to succeed us,” Bruce said. “I want to wish the Freeman family the greatest success, knowing that they will do a good job.”

Bruce said the Sassmann family remains available if Freeman needs assistance as he takes over the operation.