Staff at Cherokee Memorial
Park & Funeral Home
With hundreds of years of combined experience amongst our funeral and cemetery staff we are uniquely qualified to serve all of your funeral and cemetery needs, whether a death has occurred or you are planning for the future to ease the burdens from your family members, Cherokee Memorial staff is here to help.
CHEROKEE MEMORIAL : FUNERAL HOME DIRECTORS
Victoria "Tori" Monforte
Victoria "Tori" Monforte began her career in the funeral industry in 2003 and graduated from mortuary college in 2005. Tori has been a licensed funeral director since 2005 and an embalmer since 2007. She holds a current embalmer license, funeral director license and pre-need insurance license with the state of California. Tori has been with Cherokee Memorial Funeral Home since 2005. She was promoted to general manager of Cherokee Memorial Funeral home in 2015.
Lisa Tran
Lisa Tran began her career in the funeral industry in 2013 and graduated from American River College in 2015. She holds a current funeral directors license since 2018 and earned her embalmers license in 2019. She has been with Cherokee Memorial Funeral Home since 2015.
Caroline Jimenez
Caroline Jimenez graduated from American River College in 2018 and is currently serving her embalmer’s apprenticeship. She has been with Cherokee Memorial for over 4 years and is working toward her preneed license test in order to better serve our families. Caroline earned her funeral director’s license in 2019.
Porfirio “Porfi” Cisneros
Porfi joined the Cherokee Memorial team in 2022. A licensed funeral director, Porfi grew up in the Lodi area and is proud to serve his community.
Scott E. Gatze
Scott joined the Cherokee Memorial team in 2023 as a licensed Funeral Director. He will be attending mortuary college in 2024 and completing his apprenticeship soon after.
Valerie Prieto
Valerie Prieto is excited to join the Cherokee Memorial team. More on Valerie to come!
CHEROKEE MEMORIAL : FAMILY COUNSELORS
Ton Saechao
Ton grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area and began his cemetery career in 2013 serving families with pre-need cemetery property in the East Bay. He has worked with multiple cemeteries in the East Bay where he held management positions and developed successful teams to serve the community. Ton eventually found his way to Sacramento, CA in 2017 where he was a Family Service Counselor for a local cemetery and funeral home. He took on the role as Director of Sales at Cherokee Memorial Park in December of 2022. Ton enjoys traveling and the outdoors. When he’s not helping his team serve the greater Lodi, Stockton and nearby communities, Ton enjoys spending time tending to his little farm on the outskirts of Sacramento.
Michael Moor
Michael Moor, a San Diego native, graduated from Lincoln High School in Stockton before going on to attend college at Brigham Young University. He has been with Cherokee Memorial Park since 1988 as a family service counselor.
DaMaris Brose-Helton
DaMaris Brose-Helton is a native of North Dakota. She attended local high schools as well as San Joaquin Delta College and Fresno City College. She has been a family service counselor with Cherokee Memorial Park since 1994.
Claude “Matt” Bryant
Claude "Matt" Bryant. Matt is a native of Stockton and attended local high school. He graduated college, receiving a bachelor's degree in business. Matt has worked in the funeral industry since 2001 and has been with Cherokee Memorial since December, 2014. Matt works as a trainer for pre-need and family service counselors for those new to the industry.
Chester Lum
Chester Lum is a Stockton native and attended local elementary and high schools. He obtained his bachelor's degree at Vennard College in Iowa. Chester is an ambassador with the Greater Stockton Chamber of Commerce and a pastor of Journey Church. He began assisting families at a local funeral home in 1997, continuing there until joining the Cherokee Memorial team in 2016. Since then, Chester has served families as a Family Service Counselor.
Melchor C. Garza
Melchor C. Garza began his career in the funeral business in Lodi in 1992. In 1994 he began studies at the San Francisco College of Mortuary Science, graduating in 1996. Melchor worked in the San Francisco Bay Area for 20 years before returning to Lodi, where he was born and raised. Using his knowledge of the funeral industry, Melchor serves our families with cemetery and preneed sales.
NIckcole Northcraft
Nickcole Northcraft is a 20 year resident of Lodi California, graduating from San Joaquin Delta College in 2020, and currently studying at American River college majoring in Funeral Services. Nickcole Is committed to educating her community about pre-planning. New to the industry Nickcole is very passionate about helping families in their times of need.
Michelle Weichers
Michelle Weichers became native to the Lodi/Stockton Community in 2007. After her career in the hospitality industry of bringing joy to families, she began her career at Cherokee Memorial in early 2023 in hopes to use her life experiences to help serve families. She is active in outreach from San Joaquin County to the Bay Area and is proud to serve her community. She enjoys traveling, spending time with her son and experiencing new restaurants.
Lora Rolland
Lora Rolland grew up in Michigan and joined the United States Marine Corps at 18. She served her country for 12 years. Her professional experience includes twenty years in real estate and fifteen years of construction management. In 2020 Lora moved to California and started her career path in the funeral industry . She is excited to join the Cherokee team as she is very passionate about helping families plan ahead as well as guiding them at their time of need.
Fatima Ochoa
Fatima Ochoa is a native to French Camp. Was raised in the Galt. Attended Galt high School. Then continue her studies in Business Administration and received a Bachelor’s Degree in Fashion Design and Merchandising. Then transitioned to the Insurance industry has been licensed since 2014. Started with Cherokee Memorial Park in 2023.
CHEROKEE MEMORIAL : EXECUTIVE TEAM
Walter Scheffer
Walter Scheffer began his funeral service career in 1973 and graduated from mortuary college in 1976 in California. He attended Delta College as well as Pacific Union College in the Napa Valley. Walt has been licensed as a funeral director since 1977. He holds an embalmer license, funeral director license and insurance license in California. In 2015, Walt became president and Chief Operating Officer of Cherokee Memorial Park & Funeral Home after serving as the founding manager of the funeral home since 1998.
John Silvestri
John Silvestri grew up in Southern California and attended Pacific Union College in the Napa Valley, graduating with a bachelor's degree in business administration with an emphasis in management. John began his work in the non-profit sector in 2008 and, in 2015, he joined the Cherokee Memorial Park and Funeral Home team as chief financial officer.
Marc Gabrys
Marc Gabrys, vice president of operations, began at Cherokee Memorial Park & Funeral Home in 1995 after graduating from UC Davis with a degree in landscape architecture. Marc's specialty is space planning and design and he has developed all gardens and features at the park since joining the management team. In addition to landscape architecture, Marc received a degree in business administration.