THE MONUMENT GUY

My name is Jesse Schowengerdt, and I am "The Monument Guy" The year was 2000. I had just graduated from the University of Missouri. I was a licensed embalmer, funeral director and had come back to work the family business. I was looking for a side gig to earn a little extra money on the side. My local monument shop was looking for some help to do their cemetery lettering since the gentleman they had was retiring. I served a 6 month apprenticeship trying to learn the art of cemetery lettering. In the early years I had just a couple different alphabets or fonts that were hand pressed, like the old newspaper presses. That first year I cut 55 death dates. I enjoyed being outdoors and traveling to the different cemeteries.

Through the years I began to build my business, adding a couple funeral homes, a monument shop here and there and began getting inquiries from some metropolitan cemeteries. In 2009 I became a father to a beautiful girl named Kensley. In 2014 I once again became a father to a special needs little boy with Autism named Kenton. In 2011, I noticed many monument companies began creating monuments with unique fonts—computer generated fonts. It was then that I realized I needed to upgrade and go digital. I bought a computer, Gerber software and a portable plotter that allowed me to do cemetery lettering on site.

Today, I am blessed to serve nearly 40 funeral homes, 9 metropolitan cemeteries and a dozen monument companies across Missouri and Kansas. Accompanied by my son Kenton on most occasions, I am grateful to be also involved with many memorial projects, including numerous Police, Fire, Emergency and Veterans organizations. I am pleased to offer stone cleaning, re-darkening old lettering, adding children’s names and many other services. I have over 24 years of experience of providing cemetery lettering in a timely and professional manner.