Our Staff
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Married to Virginia, the daughter of Robert and Priscilla Jay, she has served as the Secretary/Treasurer for Jay Chapel for 30 years. They have 3 children and 3 grandchildren. Dan enjoys family activities, traveling and anything related to aviation. Dan has been involved with flying for over 30 years as a commercial pilot and flight instructor. His civic and community activities include being a past President of the Madera Kiwanis Club in 1979-80, a former Board of Director and President of the Hospice of Madera County, a former member and chairman of the Madera Municipal Airport Advisory Commission, a former member of the Madera County Airport Land Use Commission and served on the Board of Directors of the California Funeral Directors Association. It is very rare for a business to survive two or three generations, Jay Chapel is now in the fifth generation. Dan and Virginia have worked together for over 30 years to continue a family tradition of service. "It has been an honor to provide the special help to families during their time of loss of a loved one. Our ability to care for the deceased and their family members is of utmost importance." |
 Wayne A. Gomes (FDR-171) is our Manager for Jay Chapel. Wayne has been a funeral director for over a quarter of a century in the Central Valley. A native of Madera, Wayne is a lifelong resident of the Fresno and Madera area. He is a graduate of California State University Fresno, and a veteran of the California Air National Guard. Wayne began his career as general manager of The Whitehurst Sullivan Burns & Blair Chapel in Fresno for many years and later with the Loewen Group when the Whitehurst family sold their firms. Wayne has been affiliated with Jay Chapel since 2000. Wayne is a member of numerous Central Valley groups including the Fresno County Cabrillo Club #10, where he has been a Board Member for 25 years. He is also a member of the Cal Iota Alumni Association of the SAE Fraternity, the Knights of Columbus, St. Anthony of Padua Parish, the Catholic Professional and Business Breakfast Club of the Diocese of Fresno and served as its Ambassador for St. Anthony of Padua Parish. Wayne is also a member of the C.P.D.E.S. Hall of Fresno, the Fresno Basque Club, the Serra Club of Fresno, the S.E.S. of Kerman, I.D.E.S., and U.P.E.C. organizations of Fresno. He is a charter member of The Madera PFSA Council and is its first Vice-President. He is also a Board Member of the Central Valley Funeral Directors Association and is a Past-President, a past member of the associates of Children’s Hospital of Central California and the Young Men’s Group of St. Agnes Medical Center. He is also a member of the Italian Catholic Federation I.C.F., a third generation of his family to be a member. In The C.S.U.F. Alumni Association he has served on the programs committee in past years.
Wayne is very well known among Fresno families for the assistance he has given them over the years in his career of caring. He is a very familiar face with the Greek Community of St. George Greek Orthodox Church and at the St. Paul Armenian Church, both of Fresno. Over the years Wayne is entrusted with the directing of the funerals of the clergy of the Diocese of Fresno. He has also served on committee's for Diocesan events. 
"Losing a loved one is a stressful and numbing experience for every family. It is my goal to assist families in planning a beautiful and memorable tribute that reflects the life that was lived." |
Robert E. "Bob" Gallegos was born and raised in Taos County, New Mexico. He is a United States Army veteran who served with the 77th Special Forces Unit, The 525 Military Intelligence Group, 18th Airborne Corp, and the Secretariat of Joint Staff in the United States European Command in Paris, France. Bob attended the University of California, Los Angeles where he graduated with a Bachelor of Science Degree and a Masters of Science degree in Industrial-Labor Relations. Bob is bi-literate in Español/Spanish. Bob spent 50 years as a Sr. V.P. in credit insurance sales and administration with Pacific Fidelity Life (Transamerica Companies) and Central States Health & Life Company of Omaha. He has been a Pre-Need Funeral Counselor since 1997. Bob is a member of St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church in Fresno. 
"I am gratified being able to help people make decisions that will minimize a stressful situation at the time of need. Information obtained during the pre-arrangement assists the directors at the time of need and relieves the family of much of the financial burden at that time. " |
Les Riffel (FDR-1295) is a long-term employee, starting with Jay Chapel in April of 1973. He is dedicated to serving families in their time of need. Les graduated from Los Angeles College of Mortuary Science with honors in 1972. He also graduated from Fresno Pacific University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Business Administration in 1971. Les achieved his California Funeral Directors license in 1998. He has been the Central Valley Funeral Directors Association Treasurer since 2006. Les is an active member of Cornerstone Community Church in Chowchilla and Madera Breakfast Lions Club. He is married to Esther and they have two adult children, Lisa and Brian and his wife Joy, and a granddaughter, Taylor.
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Mark A. Peruch (FDR-1202) has been affiliated with Jay Chapel since 1978 as an Embalmer and Funeral Director. He is a graduate of Cypress College of Mortuary Science and the recipient of the Hilgenfeld Award for Funeral Directing Excellence. In addition to being licensed with the State of California, he also has taken and successfully passed the National Boards which allows practice in approximately 40 other states. He served as past president 2002-2004 for the Central Valley Funeral Directors Association. Mark is an active member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. He is married to Janet Brosi of Madera and has 6 children, and 5 grandchildren. Mark is active in the community and has served in the Madera National Little League as Coach and Manager for 12 years as well as serving in Thunderbird District Chair a board member of the Sequoia Council in the Boy Scouts of America program. In his spare time, Mark owns and operates Accent Monuments in Madera and also is an Almond Grower with membership in Blue Diamond. 
“One of my many responsibilities as a Funeral Director is to organize and facilitate a smooth, comfortable flow for the service, to encourage the officiant and family to meet and discuss the personal attributes and details to create a service that will bring comfort, understanding and peace to lives of those remaining. |
Todd Reder(FDR-1859) has been a Funeral Director since 1999. He graduated from Cypress Mortuary College in 1997 and carried out his apprenticeship here at Jay Chapel in 1997. After completing his apprenticeship, he moved to Michigan where his family is from and began his career at Peter’s Funeral Home in Grosse Pointe Woods, Michigan as a funeral director/embalmer. Todd returned to the Golden State and worked at Cairns Funeral Home in Reedley until recently returning to Jay Chapel as our newest Funeral Director. He has two beautiful daughters, Taylor and Ryann. “I wanted to be in a profession where I would be able to help people. Being a funeral director lets me help families through some of the toughest times they could ever go through and it gives me great fulfillment in being able to assist them in every way possible in the loss of their loved one.” 
“I understand the peace and comfort that music can bring to a grieving family. It also becomes essential to know the families we serve to select with them the music that will have the deepest heart moving value to bring the solace sought for.” |
 Tara Dore has been working for Jay Chapel since January 2001 as the Data Base Specialist and Bookkeeper. She is actively involved with Thomas Jefferson Middle School as President of the Parent Teacher Council and has served as Treasurer of the Madera High School Band Boosters. Tara is also involved with the local dance studio, All About Dance & Gymnastics, where she does website development and bookkeeping.
Tara is also responsible for creating and maintaining the remarkable website Jay Chapel has developed for the families we serve. Tara is the videographer for events that family members or friends are unable to attend the funeral service. Tara coordinates, records, and broadcasts the service to the internet and produces a DVD for the family.
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 Elizabeth "Liz" Dunn is a fifth generation family member at Jay Chapel. She started working here in September of 1991. Liz graduated in 1983 from Madera High School and has attended two years of college at Kings River Community College. She is married to her high school sweetheart, James and they have two children, Phillip and Sarah. Liz is an award winning Tole Painter and has decorated friends' homes with her work. "I remember growing up listening to my grandfather, Robert Jay, tell stories of compassion and history that is Jay Chapel and I knew I wanted to carry on that tradition. I am also proud that we are still a family owned funeral home and we can still give that personal care to the families we serve. I feel privileged carrying on that tradition."
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Cyndi S. Farr joined the Jay Chapel team in May of 2005 coming from the Madera County Arts Council. She has lived in the Madera County area since 1989 and currently lives in Fresno. Cyndi is involved in organizations such as the P.E.O. and the Quilting Guild in Madera. Cyndi graduated from Reedley Community College in May 2009 with her AS degree in Accounting. "It makes me feel good knowing that the work I do behind the scenes here at Jay Chapel, will help a family during their difficult time."
“It is rewarding to me to be able to assist families by making sure all of the work that I do enables the process of burying or cremating a loved one is a smooth one. It is my job to communicate with doctors and Health Departments to work with them in order to generate a Certified Copy of the Death Certificate and Burial Permits. All of this is done electronically on the computer. In addition to this important job, I also produce beautiful Memorial Folders and Register Books for the services. I am very proud of the quality of work that I do and it is reflected in the comments we get back from the families.” |
Dan Whistler (FDR-125) is the President of Jay Chapel. With over 40 years experience in funeral service, Dan has been at Jay Chapel since 1970. A 1959 graduate of Hanford High School in Hanford, CA, he attended College of the Sequoias in Visalia, CA and graduated from the San Francisco College of Mortuary Science in 1963. Dan served in the U.S. Army Medical Corps from 1963 to 1966, returning to California to continue a career in funeral service.
