Epting Funeral Home
About Us
Compassion and Support
With a deep desire to serve, Epting Funeral Home opened its doors on March 1, 2008. Since then, we have humbly served countless families that have chosen us to assist them in commemorating a life lived.
We are a full-service funeral home providing a wide range of services and products from burials and cremations to monuments. One of our goals, in offering a large selection, is to plan and create a unique tribute for each individual.
One thing you won't find at Epting Funeral Home is a large building with a large chapel. Where we lack in square footage, we make up in affordability. By combining lower overhead and good stewardship, we are able to pass those savings to our families. We value the ability to meet any budget.
As of September 2018 our funeral home became completely debt free. We want to share this with your family, so you understand that being debt free as a business was a goal of Ricky and Iris in 2008 when Epting Funeral Home opened its doors. By being debt free, we are able to serve each family that contacts our funeral home, by offering a very fair price, and working with every budget. We do not have debt, so we do not need to charge expensive prices and we are able to continue donating to many area charities that need assistance.
We are also proud to be locally owned and operated. The owners of Epting Funeral Home feel blessed to be living and serving in Northwest Arkansas. In response, we aim to promote and invest in our local community.
By allowing our funeral home to assist your family, you enable us to continue to donate to the following organizations, many on a monthly basis: Voice of Hope Ministry in Nicaragua, Amazon Outreach Ministry of Brazil, The Bucket Ministry, AWANA Missionaries in Arkansas, Living Grace Ministry, NWACC Foundation, Arkansas Children's Hospital Foundation, For All Mankind Ministries in Dubai, the area VFW and American Legion Post, Ouachita University Scholarship in Arkansas, Northwest Arkansas Community College Foundation, Love Beyond Borders, Least of These Ministries, Northwest Arkansas Food Bank, Mission Dignity, Muscular Dystrophy Association, Bentonville/Bentonville/Fayetteville "Shop With A Cop Program," Swing for Life for ALS, Circle of Life Hospice, and many other donations to local and national organizations that help people every day.
Meet the Team
We believe God has blessed us with a special team of compassionate people who have a heart for ministering to families during difficult times. We pray they will be an encouragement to you.
Funeral Director
Ricky Epting
Ricky was born in West Memphis, Arkansas. He is a 1996 graduate of Rogers High School in Rogers, Arkansas and a 1998 graduate of Northwest Arkansas Community College in Bentonville, Arkansas. He has a degree in Business Management.
Ricky became a licensed funeral director in March 1999. He served his apprenticeship under Bob Rollins at Rollins Funeral Home in Rogers. He was a funeral director at Rollins until 2004 and at Stockdale Funeral Services in Rogers from 2004 to 2008.
Ricky is a member of First Baptist Church Rogers where he is a director for his LIFE Group class, volunteers with AWANA, and serves as a deacon. He is a member of the Rogers Noon Lions Club and served as their president from 2010 to 2011. He is also a member of the Northwest Arkansas Funeral Directors' Association and served as their president in 2007.
Ricky enjoys reading business literature, analyzing the stock market, traveling, and scuba diving. He is also an avid Ole Miss fan. (Please don't hold that against him!)
Accountant
Iris Epting
Iris was born and raised in Rogers. She is a 2000 graduate of Rogers High School and a 2004 graduate of Ouachita Baptist University in Arkadelphia, Arkansas. She has a bachelor's degree in accounting.
Iris was an auditor for Ernst & Young, LLP in 2004 where she worked on the Wal-Mart account. She was an accountant for Cooper Homes, Inc. from 2005 to 2011.
Iris is a member of First Baptist Church Rogers where she is a director for her LIFE Group class, volunteers with Upward Cheer, and greets members and guests on Sunday mornings.
Iris enjoys reading, cooking, cake decorating, traveling, and scuba diving. She and Ricky have been married since October 2006, and they have a daughter named Vivian, a son named Tatum and one dog Senatobia.
Funeral Director and Preneed Counselor
Cito Vargas
Cito Vargas has lived in Northwest Arkansas since 2010, after he and his wife moved from Northeast Arkansas. Cito studied psychology at Williams Baptist University in Walnut Ridge, Arkansas.He has been a licensed funeral director since March 2015. He served as an apprentice under Ricky Epting at Epting Funeral Home in Bentonville.
Cito is a member of First Baptist Church Rogers where he is active in his LIFE Group class, serves as a deacon and volunteers with Upward Football and Soccer and AWANA. He also serves on the school board for First Academy in Rogers.
He enjoys sports (especially soccer and basketball), traveling, and snorkeling. Cito has been married to his wife Abby since May 2009, and they have one son and two daughters. Cito joined Epting Funeral Home in 2013.
Funeral Director and Preneed Counselor
Andrew Fulton
Andrew has been in Bentonville since 2014 after joining Epting Funeral Home. He is a funeral director and preneed counselor. He and his family moved from Birmingham, Alabama after many years of living there. He graduated from Ouachita Baptist University in Arkadelphia, Arkansas. He and his wife have one daughter and one son.
Funeral Director
Justin White
Justin was born and raised in Farmington, Mo. but moved to and has lived in Northwest Arkansas off and on since 2000. He and his wife (Bobbi Ann) and two children (Kevin and Annika) have been missionaries in Haiti and in Costa Rica until being called to serve as pastor of First Baptist Church in Decatur, Ar. in February of 2014.
He joined Epting Funeral Home in February of 2019 seeking to serve the community further and offer comfort and encouragement to those in need.
James Longmate
James of Bentonville was born and raised in Monte Ne, Arkansas. He has been a licensed funeral director since 2009 and is also the minister at New Hope Assembly of God in Rogers. James enjoys pastoring, ministering to people, and spending time with his family. He has been married to Georgia (Kirchner) Longmate since 1971. They have one son and three grandchildren. He joined Epting Funeral Home in 2008.
Lisa Bacon
Lisa of Rogers has been in Northwest Arkansas for over 30 years, after moving from Louisiana. She has been in the funeral service industry since 2002. She obtained her funeral director license in 2009. Serving families is her passion. She served at Stockdale Funeral Services for about 20 years. She is a Past President of the Northwest Arkansas Funeral Director's Association. She joined Epting Funeral Home in 2021.
Jerry Bolander
Jerry serves families at funerals and visitations. He has lived in Northwest Arkansas for many years. He is an active member of First Baptist Church located in Rogers. In his free time, he serves in the Baptist Disaster Relief in places all over the United States, when a disaster hits their area. He has been on many missionary trips, including in Nicaragua and Brazil.
Wayne Welty
Wayne of Rogers has been in Northwest Arkansas for many years. He retired from Wal-Mart Inc. after several years of service. He and his wife attend First Baptist Church of Rogers. Wayne assist with funerals and visitations. He joined Epting Funeral Home in 2014.