The Arkansas Funeral Directors Association installed Scott Berna of Fayetteville as its new president. Berna was installed as AFDA president during an association board of directors meeting in Little Rock last month.

Berna had previously served as president-elect for the association over the last two years. He and his wife, Paula, own Berna Funeral Homes. They include Nelson-Berna Funeral Home of Fayetteville, Nelson-Berna Funeral Home of Rogers and Moore’s Chapel Funeral Home in Fayetteville. Berna succeeds Kenny Culpepper of Griffin-Culpepper Funeral Service of McGehee as president of ADFA, which works across the state to maintain the funeral industry’s highest standards of excellence and service.

Berna is a Van Buren native who started in the funeral profession in high school at Edwards-Fentress Funeral Homes of Van Buren and Fort Smith. He earned his funeral directors’ license in 1985. He managed funeral homes and cemeteries in Texas and Oklahoma before returning to his native Arkansas in 1999 to manage then-Nelson’s Funeral Home and Crematory and Fairview Memorial Gardens.

Robert Kaelin of Moore’s Chapel Funeral Home in Fayetteville has been elected as an officer on the Arkansas Funeral Directors Association board of directors. Kaelin took over his role as treasurer of the association during AFDA’s board meeting in Little Rock last month.

Kaelin is the manager at Moore’s Chapel, and he has worked for a number of funeral homes across Arkansas, including Griffin Leggett Healy and Roth in Little Rock and Fentress Mortuary in Fort Smith. He is a graduate of the Dallas Institute of Funeral Service, and he received his embalmer’s and funeral director’s licenses in 1990. Kaelin and his wife, Tammy, have three children.

AFDA’s 2021 officers include Scott Berna of Berna Funeral Homes of Fayetteville, president; Ladonna Smith of Davis-Smith Funeral Home of Glenwood, president elect; Ciley Castillo of Powell Funeral Home of Bald Knob, vice-bpresident; David Tucker of Roller-Swift Funeral Home of Osceola, secretary; Tom Compton of Roller Funeral Homes in Little Rock, policy board representative; and Kenny Culpepper of Griffin-Culpepper Funeral Service of McGehee as past president.