Butler County remembers former funeral home director as ‘stalwart of the community’
Throughout his life, Stephen Geibel helped members of the community through some of the most difficult times they had to face.
On Tuesday, March 17, Geibel died at the age of 80.
For decades, hundreds of families turned to Stephen Geibel and his family’s funeral home in Butler to handle the arrangements of their loved ones after their deaths. Geibel was the third-generation owner of Geibel Funeral Home from 1977 to his retirement from active ownership in 2012.
“He had a very good heart,” said Gail Paserba of Penn Township, who knew Geibel as a neighbor. “He had the perfect personality to be a funeral director, because his heart was so kind.”
Outside the family business, Geibel also served the country as a member of the Pennsylvania Army National Guard and was a member of numerous local civic groups and fraternal organizations.
Jimmy Chiprean, owner of Miller’s Shoes in Butler, was a friend of Geibel and fellow member of the Knights of Columbus Butler Council 866.
“He ran a great business,” said Chiprean. “He was a stalwart of the community and you know you trusted him with your family in the funeral business.”
Close friends were of the opinion Geibel was a great friend and neighbor, as well as an exceptional business owner who always tried to make time for people. One of those people was Nicky Ban, who worked with the funeral home as a hearse driver and now runs his own company, Mortuary Logistics.
“He was very jovial, with a good sense of humor, but very much focused on attention to detail,” Ban said. “Everything was always very detailed, from the vehicles being cleaned to taking care of families. He was very caring with the families that he dealt with. If he received a death call in the middle of the evening, he attended to that. He didn’t pass it off.”
Paserba recalled one encounter with Geibel which occurred shortly after he retired. In July 2013, Paserba’s husband, Thomas, died and the family entrusted his services to Geibel’s funeral home.
According to Paserba, Geibel briefly came out of retirement just to handle her husband’s arrangements.
“He actually had just retired when my husband passed away,” Paserba said. “Because of his close relationship with my husband, he came back and he took care of making the funeral arrangements. He knew I needed my hand held.”
The funeral home stayed in the Geibel family until 2025, when Stephen’s son, Chad, sold it to Tom Martin, owner of Martin Funeral Home.
Ban says he’s taken the lessons from the time he worked with Geibel and applied them to his own business, in which he works with funeral homes across the county.
“What I learned working for Steve carried into my own business,” Ban said. “I myself am very particular about the work that I do and how you speak to families, expressing concern when someone passes. Everybody is somebody, no matter what their station in life, and Steve always stood very strongly for that.”
