History & Staff

About Us

For more than 15 years, the staff at Porta Coeli Funeral Home & Crematory has provided respectful service and options for families to create a meaningful service at an affordable cost. We serve all religions and have full-time staff available 24 hours-a-day, every day of the year. We are located in Kissimmee, FL. The following are just a few of the ways we are unique:

Family owned and operated: Many death care businesses in Central Florida are owned by huge chains and multi-national conglomerates. We, however, proudly remain independently owned and operated. Porta Coeli Funeral Home & Crematory and our staff believe that we are accountable to you, not far-away stockholders. We believe that the most valuable thing we own is our reputation. We are kind, gentle, and knowledgeable men and women who respect your right to choose without pressure or undue influence. Every staff associate is expected and empowered to do anything it takes to serve your family well. The owners and staff of Porta Coeli are your neighbors, and we are the ones who live and are active in your community.

Personalized services: Our staff is specially selected and trained to facilitate services that reflect your needs and cultural traditions. Our goal is to listen, suggest, organize, and carry out ceremonies that will be comforting and full of meaning.

Price and value: We understand that we have only one opportunity to serve you and your family sensitively and correctly, and we have always voluntarily adhered to high standards. We attract and retain the best professional, compassionate, and knowledgeable staff possible. Our people provide consistently outstanding care to those we serve.

All your needs at one location: Since Porta Coeli Funeral Home & Crematory owns and operates its own funeral home and is associated with Osceola Memory Gardens Cemetery and St. Cloud Florist, we can offer you “one-stop” service. This enables you to work with one firm, allowing all your funeral, cemetery, cremation and floral arrangements to be cared for in one convenient location. Click here for more information regarding Osceola Memory Gardens Cemetery.

Why having our own Crematory is important to you: Porta Coeli Funeral Home & Crematory owns and operates its own Crematory. This gives us the ability to control and oversee every aspect of the cremation process. As a result, we can ensure families’ ultimate security and the most dignified handling of every cremation. You’ll take comfort knowing that your loved one never leaves the shelter of our expert care. Our highly trained and certified personnel perform all cremations following a strict and secure process with our state-of-the-art equipment. Click here for more information.

Planning for your future: We provide complimentary assistance with planning your funeral ahead of time. You have the option of locking in today's prices and funding your plan or simply placing your wishes on file and allowing the costs to be paid at the time of need. Pre-planning ensures your wishes are carried out, prevents emotional overspending, locks in today's prices and relieves your family from the burden and cost of making difficult decisions. Click here to learn more.

Returning Home to Your Country of Origin: Repatriation services is a process of helping families bring their loved one home after a death has occurred. We can help. With our multi-cultural community, it's important for a funeral home to be properly equipped to help families get their loved one home. The process of repatriation can be difficult and complex. We have years of experience in helping families through this process. We have relationships with consulates across the globe and can handle the entire process for you.

Our Guarantee to you: Our fair prices represent the greatest value in the area. Our staff is kind, considerate and knowledgeable. Our facilities are updated and immaculate. If you are dissatisfied with any of our professional services or facilities, we will reduce or eliminate that charge.

We would like to thank you for extending to us the privilege to serve you. Through our experience, we understand the importance of our role and are dedicated to providing you the best possible service in order to create a meaningful, appropriate, and affordable tribute.

For more information, please feel free to contact us at (407) 846-2804 or click here for the "Contact Us" page – thank you.

Download our About Us Brochure

Terry Roberts, General Manager

Terry moved to Kissimmee in 1960, a week after Hurricane Donna came through. He graduated from Osceola High School in 1965. He married Annette Gorski in 1966 who was the stepdaughter of Horace Phipps, founder of Osceola Memory Gardens in 1958. Terry graduated from the University of South Florida in 1970 with a Bachelors Degree in education and a minor in accounting. He has been employed with Osceola Memory Gardens since 1972 where he started in cemetery maintenance and was a grave digger. Terry was appointed General Manager in 1984 and became a partner in 1996. Terry served as past President of the Rotary Club of Kissimmee as well as past President of the Florida Cemetery Association.
Tom Hanneken, Licensed Funeral Director / Operations Manager

Tom has been a licensed funeral director since 1987 and has been with Funeraria Porta Coeli for over 10 years and with Osceola Memory Gardens Cemetery and Funeral Homes since 1997. Tom is devoted to helping families through a difficult time. He is married to his lovely wife, Julie and has four wonderful children. He is a member of Holy Redeemer Catholic Church, Kissimmee Elks Lodge, and Knights of Columbus Tom enjoys golfing and spending time with his family.
Ludmila De Oliveira, Licensed Funeral Director / Funeral Home Manager

Ludmila De Oliveira was born in São Paulo, Brazil where she was raised through her teenage years. In 1996 she moved to Florida with her family and started working in the funeral industry at the age of 18.Besides working in a funeral home she was also a Monument Sales Agent for many years. In 2007 she decided to go back to school and study to become a Licensed Funeral Director, and in 2010 she graduated from the Mortuary Services Program at the Miami-Dade College and became licensed in 2011. With over 20 years in the industry, Ludmila has gained vast experience working with people from various cultural backgrounds and has developed good relationships with Consulates from many countries, becoming an International Shipping Specialist. She is also fluent in English, Spanish and Portuguese and became part of our team in December 2017. Ludmila is a proud mother of her son Giovanni, and in her free time she enjoys spending time with family, traveling, reading and fishing.
Idannys Bauzo, Licensed Funeral Director

Idannys was born is Puerto Rico and graduated from St. Petersburg College. Prior to that she graduated from Valencia College and went on to the University of Central Florida. Growing up Idannys was surrounded by the funeral service culture as her mother worked in a cemetery in Puerto Rico, in 2005 they relocated to Kissimmee, FL where her mother continued to work in a funeral industry. At the age of 17, right before graduating from Gateway High School, Idannys started working in a funeral home, since then this has been her passion. Idannys is our youngest funeral director but she is well experienced in the industry. She takes great pride in serving her families with compassion and empathy. She has a beautiful daughter named Katalina and a fur baby named Lexie who is a 5-pound Black Chihuahua. Idannys enjoys going to the movie theater, trying out new restaurants and traveling with her family on her free time.
C. Thompson Dorsey, Licensed Funeral Director

Born in Brunswick, Maine, Tom moved with his family to Pompano Beach, FL in 1969. Upon graduating high school, Tom went to work part time at R. Jay Kraeer Funeral Home in 1976 and spent 20 years learning how to care for families at this premier funeral home in South Florida. Tom graduated in 1992 from Miami Dade Community College with a degree in Funeral Service Education. In 1998 Tom moved to St. Cloud to work for Osceola Memory Gardens and Funeraria Porta Coeli. Tom believes in the value of community service and is very involved in his community. He is a member of the Rotary Club of St. Cloud and served as President in 2001 and 2019.He also served as Chairman of the Board of Directors of The Greater Osceola St. Cloud Chamber of Commerce in 2014. In addition, he served as the President of the Board of Directors for the Osceola County Council on Aging in 2014 and is still an active board member as well as the St. Cloud Main Street Program., where he currently serves as President of the Board of Directors. Tom expresses that, “It’s been the privilege of a lifetime to call Funeral Service my profession". Tom lives in St Cloud with his beautiful wife Kim and their fur babies, Hunter and Gracie.
Donald R. Kraeer, Licensed Funeral Director

Don was born in McDonald, Pennsylvania and moved to Florida in 1988 to join Kraeer Funeral Homes in the Ft. Lauderdale area. He attended Miami-Dade Community College earning an Associate Degree in Funeral Service Education in 1990. In 2001, Don relocated to St. Cloud, Florida to work at Osceola Memory Gardens and Funeraria Porta Coeli as a Funeral Director. For the last 25 years, Don has dedicated himself to meeting with families and assisting them with the funeral arranging process during their most difficult time.
Vernon Dorsey, Licensed Funeral Director

Vern was born in Brunswick, Maine and moved to Florida as a young boy. After many years working in the funeral industry, Vern attended Miami Dade Community College earning an Associate Degree in Funeral Service Education in 1991. He Worked for the Kraeer Funeral Homes until 1996 when he relocated his family to Ocala, FL. to work at the Page Theus Funeral Home. In 2002 he joined the staff of Funeraria Porta Coeli and Osceola Memory Gardens Funeral Home. Vern has participated in the Kissimmee Bay and Poinciana Rotary Clubs and The Poinciana area Chamber of Commerce. Vern and his wife Carol reside in St. Cloud.
Michael Latore, Licensed Funeral Director

Michael was born and raised in Rochester, NY. He has been a licensed funeral director and embalmer in NY and Florida for over 25 years. Michael moved to Florida in the spring of 2022 and joined Osceola Memory Gardens June of 2022.
Natalie Gutierrez, Office Administrator

Natalie was born in Santurce, Puerto Rico, and moved with her family to Kissimmee at the age of 7. She attended local schools such as Parkway Middle School, Gateway High School, Osceola High and Cypress High School. Kissimmee became her hometown. Having started working at the age of 6, Natalie has acquired knowledge in several fields such as: Hospitality, Laundry, Customer Service, Night Auditing, Business Administration/Management, Retail, Sales, Marketing, Security Management, Accounting and Real Estate. Her 20 plus years of customer service experience has greatly enhanced her passion to serve, and empower others. She has 3 wonderful and loving kids. Natalie stands strong on her foundational values, culture and upbringing carrying this through to her proffessional life. In her free time she enjoys DIY projects, painting, crafts, but most of all spending quality time with her family. Her passion for knowledge and the arts are her source for inspiration. She joined the Funeraria Porta Coeli family in October of 2022.
Anamaria Garcia, Licensed Family Service Advisor

Anamaria was born and raised in the Dominican Republic. She worked at Banco de Reservas in Santo Domingo while pursuing a Marketing career at Eugenio Maria de Hostos University after which she moved to New Jersey in 1987. She started working at Pan American Airlines in the payroll department. After Pan American’s bankruptcy, she moved to Florida to explore new opportunities. Anamaria worked at Westgate Resort, Vistana Resort, Sunpass Operations and maintains a Florida Real Estate License. Anamaria joined Funeraria Porta Coeli and Osceola Memory Gardens in 2015 as a bi-lingual, licensed Family Service Advisor which gives her the opportunity to take care of families in times of need as well as allowing her to help families make the best informed decisions based on their needs..
Sandra Rijo, Licensed Family Service Advisor

Sandra was born and raised in Dominican Republic. She graduated from Eugenio Maria de Hostos University in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic with a degree in Business Administration. She is bilingual. While living in the Dominican Republic, she worked at City Bank for more than six years.During the years 2000-2005 she developed her own business importing tires from United States. She moved to Orlando, Florida with her family and started working at Starwood Vacation Ownership for almost four years. She obtained her License as Family Service Advisor and she has been working at Funeraria Porta Coeli and Osceola Memory Gardens since 2013 where she applies her customer service experience of over twenty five years by offering knowledgable and professional support through the funeral planning process.
Oscar Hernandez, Family Service Advisor
Jessica A Trinidad, Licensed Family Service Advisor

Jessica joined the Porta Coeli family in 2022. She was born in Kendall, Miami, FL. and moved at a young age to the Central Florida area. Jessica graduated with an Associates in Science for Business Management and Administration. She has a large family that she is very close to. She does not have kids, but she does have a miniature long-haired dachshund named “Neno” that she loves. Jessica also enjoys crocheting in her free time.
Vanessa Román, Community Relations Director

Vanessa was born in New York City and earned her BA from Fordham University in Media Studies.In 2003 she moved to Central Florida to work for Cox Media Group’s WPYO/WCFB as Marketing Director. After 7 years in broadcast marketing, she went on to work for the City of Kissimmee, where she was the Supervisor of Public Events & Venues overseeing the city’s largest events.Vanessa has served as Community Relations Director for Osceola Memory Gardens, Funeraria Porta Coeli, Fisk Funeral Home and Funeraria Borinquen for over 7 years. She is responsible for building community presence, distributing sponsorship dollars, donation programs and event organizing. Her current position allows her to be active while still finding innovative ways to fill the needs of her community.
Tina Williams, Compliance Director

Tina is an Orlando native and has been working in the deathcare industry since 1986. She worked for a family operated Cemetery/Funeral Home from 1986 to the 1990's. After the firm was acquired by SCI she became part of their compliance team. In 2002 she left SCI to work for the State of Florida as a Financial Specialist. In 2017 Tina joined the Porta Coeli family as our Compliance Director. In her spare time Tina loves to read and spend time with her family especially her grandchildren.
Renee Roberts, Accounting Manager

Renee is a native, born and raised in Osceola County. She is a graduate of Osceola High School and holds an Associate degree in Business Management. She is the granddaughter of Horace Phipps, founder of Osceola Memory Gardens in 1958 and daughter of Terry Roberts General Manager and partner. She spent the past 25 years working for PepsiCo at the Kissimmee Gatorade plant where she held various logistics positions in the Distribution Center. Renee has been with Osceola Memory Gardens and Porta Coeli for a year in her current Accounting Manager position after decideding that she wanted to get back to her roots and spend time with her dad learning the Funeral/Cemetery business so she could be part of her family’s legacy. She has three children and when not working enjoys spending time with family and friends and being outdoors.
Amy Holoubek, Administrator and Accounting

Amy joined the Osceola Memory Gardens family in 2018. Born and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, she relocated to Florida in 2005 with her husband and three children. Amy serves dual roles with the company working in both the Administrative and Accounting departmetns at Osceola Memory Gardens and Porta Coeli. She is always looking to learn more about the funeral industry, in order to be the best possible resource for the families we service.
Christine A. Magrino, Detail Office Coordinator

“Chrissie" began her career with Osceola Memory Gardens Funeral Home and Funeraria Porta Coeli in January of 2005 after moving to Florida. Born and raised in Meadville, Pennsylvania she graduated from Hixson’s School of Floral Design and worked as a florist from 1978 until 1996. She graduated in 1996 with honors from Thiel College Greenville, PA with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Psychology and a minor in Sociology. In the field of social work, she worked as a counselor in a domestic violence shelter and then in another agency counseling individuals and families who were homeless or near homeless. Chrissie was also a licensed Assisted Living Facility Administrator. Combining her background in customer service, counseling, and administration, Chrissie strives to provide grieving families with warm and compassionate service as well as an empathetic listening ear. Ms. Magrino loves living in St. Cloud, and enjoys spending time with her children, grandchildren and friends. She also enjoys reading, listening to music, playing guitar and singing.
Sheila M Ceballos, Detail Office

Sheila was born and raised in Puerto Rico and she got a degree in Computer Technology which then led her to get a degree in Graphic Design which she started to exert right away. Sheila has worked over 15 years in the Customer Service area and over 7 years as an administrator. She moved in 2022 to Saint Cloud, Florida and then started working for Porta Coeli as a Details Office Assistant. She has a daughter named Irialys and a son named Eilan. She has a passion for arts and on her free time she likes to paint.
Jennifer Archibald, Detail Office

Jennifer has lived in St. Cloud for 35 years. She met her husband of 26 years while they were in high school and they have 2 daughters who are currently in college. She has been with Porta Coeli for almost 4 years.. Jennifer's role is that of an Administrator in the Details Office. She takes pride in the work that she does in her role in the Details office alongside her co-workers. Jennifer enjoys spending time with her family watching soccer, going to the beach and just being together. In her spare time she loves to cook and work with her husband in the yard. She is looking forward to retiring in North Florida or Georgia with her husband.
Elena St. Laurent, Funeral Home Associate

Elena has lived in Central Florida since 1983. She was married for 50 years when her husband passed away. She has 4 adult children and 11 grandchildren. She is proud of the work she does at Funeraria Porta Coeli helping people during the worst time of their lives.
Glenn Denshaw, Funeral Home Associate

Glenn started working for Osceola Memory Gardens and Funeraria Porta Coeli as a Funeral Home Associate in 2018. He is originally from New Jersey, lived in Pennsylvania but has called Kissimmee home for more than 30 years.
Reina Santos, Funeral Home Associate

Reina was born in El Salvador. She lived in New York City before relocating to Florida and joining the Funeraria Porta Coeli family. She has been married for 18 years and has 3 kids. Reina is a teamplayer who is committed to infusing compassion into her work.
Susan Piña, Office Administrator/Funeral Home Associate

Susan was born and raised in New York City, NY where she studied Criminal Justice and Police Science at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. She worked as the personal Assistant and Administrator for The President of the Puerto Rican Bar Association in The Bronx, NY, and as an Administrative Assistant in the Emergency Department of Jamaica Hospital Medical Center in Queens, NY. Susan relocated to Osceola County, FL in 2010 with her late husband of 28 years and their son. In 2014 Susan joined Osceola Memory Gardens and Porta Coeli as an Office Administrator. Susan is devoted to assisting families with care, empathy and support during their difficult time.
William Bouret, Funeral Home Associate

William grew up in Queens, New York and joined the staff of Osceola Memory Gardens and Funeraria Porta Coeli in 2019 as a Funeral Service Assistant on the transfer team.William is currently a Funeral Director intern as well as a student at St Petersburg Community College where he is pursuing a Certificate in Funeral Services Director. He also has an A.S. Degree from Valencia College in Paralegal Studies. William is devoted to serve the families of our community and enjoys spending time with his family.
Karen L Foos, Funeral Home Associate/Crematory Operator

Karen joined the Porta Coeli Funeral Home family in 2022. Born in Cleveland Ohio, Karen relocated with her family to Central Florida in 2003. Karen is a certified Crematory operator as well as serving families as part of our support staff.
Valerie C Hataway, Office Administrator
Gladys L Beltran, Office Administrator
Ariany Calderon, Office Administrator
Mayra I Collazo, Funeral Home Associate
Jeffrey T Coates, Funeral Home Associate

Jeffrey is from Long Beach, CA. He graduated with a Bachelor's of Arts from Arizona State University in 2017. He now lives in Central Florida and works as a Funeral Home Associate.
William N Dieli, Funeral Home Associate