Rolen Dale "Casey" Casebolt

Rolen Dale “Casey” Casebolt, age 78, passed away unexpectedly at his home on January 10th, 2022.

Casey was born August 2nd, 1943 in Chanute, KS to the late Dale and Mae Casebolt. He graduated from Chanute High School in 1961, Chanute JUCO (now Neosho County Community College) in 1963, and, finally, he received his bachelors in Business Administration from Kansas State College of Pittsburg (now Pittsburg State University) in 1966. He also served in the United States Air Force Reserves during the 1960’s and 1970’s.

After his time in Pittsburg, Casey moved to the Kansas City area, where he permanently resided for the remainder of his life. In 1969, he married what was to be his wife of 52+ years, Eva Hafner of Kansas City, KS. They were true life partners thru the years, especially as Casey traveled extensively on business and Eva maintained their home. Eva and Casey had one son, Scott, born in 1975.

He started a 45+ year career in various sales roles, retiring in 2013 after 29 Years of service as Vice President of Sales for The Gerson Company, Olathe, KS. He was a loyal and dedicated employee as evidenced by only having three employers in his adult life. The others were Montgomery Ward and Ben Franklin Stores. For Casey, people were never business associates, customers, or coworkers. He saw everyone he interacted with as a true friend, as evidenced by his interest in everything about them.

Casey is survived by his wife Eva, of the home; son Scott and his wife Kristin, and his pride and joy, grandson Cale, all of Wichita, KS; bonus grandsons Dylan McCollar of Shawnee, KS and Logan McCollar of Fort Worth, TX; sister Katherine Finley of Chanute, KS; sister-in-laws Joan Weber and Kay Reece (Bob) of Shawnee, KS; brother-in-laws Louis Hafner (Jane) of Tecumseh, KS; Vaughn Hafner (Nancy) of Dallas, TX; plus numerous nieces, nephews, and cousins.

Casey is also survived by a network of friends in the hundreds, possibly thousands. He never met a stranger, often saying “you can never have too many friends”. His interest in everyone he met was genuine, always remembering details no matter how long it had been since he interacted with someone. He truly cared about everyone’s lives, families, and anything else that affected them, whether it was a neighbor, longtime friend, customer, or someone he just met.

He was passionate about many things, but mostly his family and his beloved Pittsburg State University, especially Gorilla Football. On most fall afternoons for the past 30 years you could find Casey, home or away, as the loudest one in the stands to cheer on his mighty Gorillas on the gridiron. From his days of working on the student newspapers at Chanute High School and JUCO, Casey fancied himself as an amateur journalist and was very proud of his group email with over 200 members that he used to update everyone on all things Pitt State. OAGAAG – Once a Gorilla, Always a Gorilla.

A visitation for family and friends will be held on Monday, January 17, 2022 from 5:00 to 7:00pm, with a celebration of life on Tuesday, January 18th at 1:00 pm, both at The Amos Family Funeral Home, 10901 Johnson Dr. Shawnee, KS 66203. We understand that some may not be able to attend, so a live stream of the service will be available for those to view by Clicking Here

As would be Casey’s wishes, memorials are to be directed to the Pittsburg State University Foundation for Student Scholarships at P.O. Box 4005, Pittsburg, KS, 66762.