What a family in Randolph County actually has to do, and who does what. Nobody reads this until they need it, which is exactly when it is too late to go looking.
Funeral homes
Cater Funeral Home
1520 E. Rollins, Moberly · 660-263-3360
caterfuneralhomeinc.com
Family-owned since 1931, with owners on site and 24-hour service. Traditional funerals, cremation, pre-need planning. Obituaries are published on their site, and they run an email notification list you can subscribe to.
Pathway-Millard Family Funeral Chapel
411 Union Avenue, Moberly · 660-263-PATH (7284) · fax 660-263-0899
pathwaymemorial.com
Family owned and operated. Traditional funerals, cremation, pre-planning, personalisation and veterans services. Obituaries on the site with email subscription.
Patton Funeral Home
1221 N. Main Street, Huntsville · 660-277-3218
summervillefuneralhome.com
Part of the GEH family of funeral homes, serving the area since 1952, alongside Summerville Funeral Home in Salisbury. Funeral, memorial, aftercare, pre-planning and cremation.
Million-Taylor Funeral Home operates in Moberly (320 S. Williams Street, 660-263-0234) and Higbee (106 N. Railroad Street), with a third chapel at Madison. We have not been able to verify its details from a first-party source, so call before relying on that address.
There is no funeral home in Cairo, Clark or Renick. Families in those towns use Moberly, Huntsville or Higbee.
When the coroner is involved
Randolph County Coroner Charlie Peel — 372 Highway JJ, Suite 2G, Huntsville · 844-277-6555 ext. 238 · weekdays 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Missouri law requires a death to be reported to the coroner where there is reasonable ground to think it resulted from violence, homicide, suicide or accident; from an unusual or suspicious circumstance; from a sudden occurrence where the person had not been seen by a physician in the preceding 36 hours; or from injury or illness in custody.
The duty falls on "any person having knowledge of such a death," not just officials. And the body must not be moved until police, the sheriff or the Highway Patrol have inspected the scene.
Hospice deaths are different. No investigation is needed if the treating physician or hospice medical director certifies a natural death from a diagnosed illness — but the hospice must notify the coroner in writing within 24 hours, through the county’s notification of death form.
Fuller detail in our public safety guide.
The death certificate
Randolph County Health Department, 1319 E. Highway 24, Suite A, Moberly · 660-263-6643 ext. 201
Records counter Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. — not 5 p.m.
$14 for the first copy, $11 for each additional copy bought at the same time. Covers Missouri deaths from 1980 to the present.
Order several at once. Every bank, insurer, pension, title company and the VA will each want an original, and the $11 price only applies on the same visit. Six copies cost $69; going back later costs $14 each.
ID required: one primary photo document — driver’s licence, military ID, passport, work or school ID — or two alternate documents showing your name. Cash, cheque or card.
Deaths before 1980 go to the Missouri Bureau of Vital Records, 573-751-6387 extension 1.
Oakland Cemetery
Moberly’s municipal cemetery, run by Public Works. 601 E. Rollins Street.
Burial plots are $500 per space in the 14th Addition, which is currently for sale.
A caution on the contact. Two different sextons and two different numbers are in circulation. The city’s own cemetery page currently names Sexton Larry Schermerhorn, reachable on 660-269-7652 through the Public Works department at the City Clerk’s office; the city staff directory names Mike Lagle on 660-998-0132. Try 660-269-7652 first.
The cemetery’s records are held by the City Clerk, who is the custodian of records — useful for genealogy as well as burials.
Huntsville operates its own municipal cemetery — the town levies a dedicated cemetery tax. Contact Huntsville City Hall.
If the person was a veteran
Current VA rates: $1,002 burial allowance plus $1,002 plot allowance. For a service-connected death, up to $2,000.
A surviving spouse, partner, child, parent, executor, family member or the funeral home can claim, on VA Form 21P-530EZ.
You will need the death certificate showing cause of death, itemised transportation receipts, and the DD-214. Which is the argument for recording the DD-214 at the county Recorder years in advance — it is free, and certified copies are free.
Deadlines: none for a service-connected death; two years after burial otherwise.
Also available: headstone or marker allowances, burial flags, urns, plaques, medallions, Presidential Memorial Certificates and military funeral honours.
The Moberly Veteran Service Office, 660-263-4960, will help with all of it free of charge. See our veteran services guide.
Social Security and the rest
The funeral director normally reports the death to Social Security — ask them to confirm they have.
Survivor benefits may be available to a spouse, divorced spouse, child or dependent parent, and survivors may become eligible for Medicare on the deceased’s record. Social Security: 1-800-772-1213.
There is also a one-time lump-sum death payment. Ask Social Security for the current amount and the deadline rather than trusting a figure you read somewhere — including here.
If there is an estate to settle, probate is filed with the Circuit Clerk, 844-277-6555 ext. 400. Property transfers are recorded with the Recorder of Deeds, ext. 330. And the Collector will still bill the property tax for the year — ownership on January 1 is what counts.
Where obituaries appear
Each funeral home publishes its own, and Cater and Pathway-Millard both offer email subscriptions so you are notified of new postings — worth setting up if you are away from the county or past the age where you find out any other way.
The Moberly Monitor-Index runs obituaries: obits@moberlymonitor.com.
What we do here: we post a short factual notice with a link to the funeral home’s own page. We do not reproduce the funeral home’s text — that is their work and the family’s, and it belongs on their site.
Verified against each funeral home’s own site, the Randolph County Health Department, the City of Moberly and VA.gov, September 2026. This is not legal advice. Where a figure or a contact is disputed we have said so.
