The DeKalb Chamber of Commerce recently named their Person of the Year, Bates Family Funeral Home Director Robb Bates.
Robb is a DeKalb native, having graduated DeKalb High School in 1997. A third-generation funeral director, Robb began his career in the funeral business in 2002, working in Ennis, Texas at J.E. Keever Mortuary while attending mortuary school at and graduating from the Dallas Institute of Funeral Service. In 2009, he and his father Robby opened Bates Family Funeral Home in DeKalb. Since its inception in 2009, Bates Family Funeral Home has been the recipient of the 2012, 2013, and 2014 Pursuit of Excellence Award, the premier recognition program for funeral service.
Robb has said that working as a funeral director in his hometown is surprisingly rewarding. “I realized very quickly that if this is your calling there is no better place to do it than the place you grew up,” he said. “If you truly got into this profession to help people, what better people to help than people you’ve known your whole life, who’ve helped you to be who you are, and get where you are?”
