Wilson & Kratzer Mission Bells Chapel | Funeral & Cremation Services for San Pablo, CA

Who We Are

Our staff of professionals has years of experience caring for families from all walks of life. Each comes to us because we are leaders in our profession, with dedication to service and professional integrity.

When we sit down with a family, our shared goal is to create a fitting, memorable and affordable service for their loved one. We offer them a wide variety of services and products, as well as a wealth of creative ideas and suggestions. Together, we'll design a memorial or funeral service that suits their needs now, and in the future. Families who come to us know that years from now, they will have deep peace-of-mind because in coming to us, they've done their best to honor their loved one.

Our History

“Growing with our community” has been the history of Wilson & Kratzer since its inception.

The business was originally known as Smallwood Parlors when Aubrey Wilson purchased the business and occupied a 25-foot store room on Macdonald Avenue near 8th Street. In 1921 Aubrey Wilson acquired the property at 7th and Bissell and with the investment funds from his partner C.C. Kratzer, well-known automobile dealer in Richmond, the name became Wilson & Kratzer Funeral Home. In 1926 Aubrey Wilson was elected coroner of Contra Costa County.

In an article written by Aubrey Wilson in 1926 he said “The funeral home idea on which our own place of business is built, is the newest idea in the methods of funeral conduct. It is based on the belief that the old fashioned gloomy exterior and interior of a funeral parlor was not in keeping with the best ethics of funeral direction… the modern work of a director is to comfort as well as bury. … if he is to be a success in this difficult task, the whole of his establishment must minister to the desired end. With these ends in view the Wilson & Kratzer funeral homes embodies in its exterior and interior an atmosphere of home rather than of office or shop. When you enter our facilities you are immediately struck by the quiet dignity of our establishments.”

In 1930 Aubrey Wilson acquired sole ownership. In 1943, he relinquished the reins of management and placed them in the experienced and efficient hands of his son Francis L. Wilson along with the co-partnership with his sister Mrs. Audra Brown. Francis Wilson was also the Deputy Coroner of Contra Costa County from 1942 to 1965.

The next mortuary that was built was at 616 San Pablo Avenue in El Cerrito. Francis L. Wilson, son of the owner, assumed charge of the El Cerrito mortuary.

April 28, 1950 the Mission Bells Chapel was opened on San Pablo Avenue in San Pablo as a combination wedding and funeral service facility with over 10,000 sq. ft. The exterior of the chapel is California redwood. The interior of the new chapel is made of rough-sawed beams that combines early California designs of the missions with 1950s architectural styles. The Mission Bells Chapel was designed by local architect Donald L. Hardison and the contractor was George Tandy and Son who also built Richmond Union High School and more.

In 1957 the new Civic Center Chapel was completed. Both the Mission Bells Chapel and the Civic Center Chapel were designed to be both funeral and wedding chapels. It was designed by the Richmond Architect Donald L. Hardison and his associates Harry B. Clausen and S. Richard Komatsu and built by Crocker Tandy, General Contractors (James S. Crocker, Dair A. Tandy and Wm. J. Wheatley), decorated by Rouse & Boivie. The original structure had more than 23,000 sq. ft. and 20 rooms. Civic Center Chapel has two chapels, the larger, the north chapel, has a solarium of plants and lighted with especially made stained glass windows. Each chapel has an L-shaped floor plan, the shorter arm of the “L” providing private seating for family members. The visiting rooms were (and are still) named, the Mahogany Room, the Walnut Room, and the Laurel Room, each with its own characteristics. In 1961, Rolling Hills Memorial Park, a public, non-sectarian cemetery, crematory and mausoleum was established by the Wilson's.

Our Valued Staff

Alex Gaylor II, Funeral Director/Embalmer

Alex is a native of Missouri and has a career in the funeral industry which spans more than 30 years. After moving to Richmond, California in 1976, and upon graduation from the San Francisco College of Mortuary Sciences in 1977, he began his career as an embalmer and has held various positions throughout the Bay Area. He is a California licensed funeral director and a member of the California Funeral Directors Association.

Alex is active in the community. He is a member of: Elks Lodge #559, Epsilon Nu Delta Mortuary Fraternity and Ujema Masonic Lodge #35, San Pablo Chamber of Commerce, Richmond Chamber of Commerce.
Joesph K. Newkirk, Funeral Director / Embalmer

Joe was born and raised in St. Petersburg, Florida. After serving his country in the U.S. Air Force during the Vietnam War, he was honorably discharged in 1972 and moved to California. He started working with Wells Fargo Bank while attending Laney College to obtain his AA in Management & Supervision, graduating in 1979. He continued his career with Wells Fargo Bank for 23 years in Management. In 1993, he decided to switch his career path and began attending the San Francisco School of Mortuary Science and graduated in 1994 with his AA degree. He has been with Wilson & Kratzer Mortuaries since 1993 and now holds the position of Operations Manager/ Funeral Director / Embalmer, overseeing the daily activities for the three locations: Civic Center Chapel, Chapel of the Mission Bells & Hosselkus Chapel.

Joe has been married for 24 years. He and his wife, Anita, raised their four children in the Richmond / El Sobrante area and plan on retiring someday back in Florida. For the meantime, Joe takes great pride in serving the community he has become well known “as the man to see”, at Wilson & Kratzer Mortuary.
Barbara Rosales, Manager / Funeral Director

Barbara joined Wilson & Kratzer Mortuaries March 1, 1999 after working for twenty-two years in the financial field. She became a licensed funeral director in July 1999. In 2001, Barbara saw the need and became a Notary Public.

In 2008, she received her pre-need insurance license and looks forward to helping families understand the need to have their funeral arrangements in order. She is the former secretary for the San Pablo Chamber of Commerce, and an advocate for the improvement of relations between the public and the death care industry.
Roger McDonald, Funeral Director/Embalmer/Ambassador

Roger has been with Wilson & Kratzer since 1965. He has continued to assist those in his neighborhood community throughout his career. With his years of experience, Roger has handled many different kinds of family needs.

His continuing education has allowed him to take classes to better familiarize himself with different cultures, especially that of the South East Asian community. He has also had the opportunity to assist numerous U.S. immigrants with their necessary paperwork.

He is active in his church and continues to give back to his community by volunteering with organizations such as Lion’s Club International, the South East Asian Task Force and the Richmond-Shimada Friendship Commission. For more than 20 years he has hosted exchange students from around the world. His enjoyment of baseball led him to be a season ticket holder for the Oakland Athletics and to take part in events which benefit their Community Fund.

Roger’s three adult children and his grandchildren support and assist him with his community endeavors.
Elizabeth Wetherell, Location Manager & Funeral Director

Elizabeth has been the Funeral Director and Manager of the Hosselkus Chapel in Crocket since 1996. She and her husband, Paul, have lived on the second floor, serving families of the Crockett, Rodeo and Port Costa in their times of need.

During these thirteen years, the couple has participated in key community organizations, played in the summer Bocce Ball League and participated in many community celebrations as well as occasions of sorrow.

Elizabeth received her B.A. Degree in Business Administration and Law from Mills College, Oakland, Class of ‘84. She began working for Wilson & Kratzer in 1990 and became a funeral director in 1996. For eight years she conducted Grief Classes for the community.

A life long ‘church person’, Elizabeth currently serves as the President of the Church council for Hope Lutheran congregation (El Sobrante) where she and her husband are active members.

In serving the families of the community, Elizabeth feels that she brings “a broad range of caring and competency skills.” And, she adds, “I love this community, — and I love my work—which is my ‘ministry’.”
Celina Hernadez, Service Counselor / Preneed Insurance

Celina started with Wilson & Kratzer Mortuaries ten years ago. She was hired in 1998 as an Administrative Assistant and in 2001, she was asked to become a Funeral Arranger, an opportunity she took and has been doing since that time. In 2004, she was awarded the “Funeral Service Person of the Year” by the CFDA in Southern California while attending that year’s conference. She has always taken great pride in serving the families in her community as well as her own, over the years. In July of 2008, she passed the California Insurance License exam and looks forward to helping families with their plans of preparing for the future.

A Bay Area native, having attended schools throughout the Contra Costa area, she graduated from high school in 1996, and has been attending college part time. Outside of the office, she enjoys spending time with her husband and raising their four children that range in ages from one to fourteen. Her greatest achievement is her children. The joy and love that they bring to her life are more than any one person could ask for.
Akim Simpson, Embalmer-Funeral Director

After graduation in 2006 from Mortuary College, Akim served her internship at Wilson & Kratzer’s Connelly and Taylor Chapel. She is currently serving her apprenticeship at Wilson & Kratzer’s Civic Center Chapel.

Akim said “I love to serve and help the community. Customer satisfaction is what motivates me to strive to be the best. I am proud to be part of a great tem of co-workers and under the leadership of great management, where we all work hard to please the families we serve.
Judy Lee, Accounting Administrator

Judy is the Accounting Administrator for all of the West County Wilson & Kratzer Mortuaries. In addition to her accounting work, she also creates our promotional advertisements, trains staff, handles the web-site, and does a wide variety of work as needed including working in the prep-room and on funerals.

In addition to her dedication to her family, she is also dedicated to community service. She is the elected Treasure for the City of Pinole, Director of Judson Homes, Senior and Disabled Housing Project, a member of the San Pablo Chamber of Commerce and the Pinole Historical Society. She has been an active member of MacArthur Baptist Church in San Pablo since 1960 and has served on the boards of many organizations including: Pinole Crime Prevention, Soroptomist International, Discovery Center, Pinole Friendship Commission, and many more.
Lynda Bishop, Administrative Assistant

Lynda began working with Wilson & Kratzer Mortuaries in 2007 after working for fourteen years in customer service and just loves to work with people. She is very kind and compassionate by nature and loves to assist with all phases of the funeral business. She is a very active member of Hillcrest Baptist Church in El Sobrante and loves working with the children in Sunday School and Bible School.

Lynda values her time with her family. She is married and has one son at home and her oldest son and his wife have given her a beautiful grandson. Having lost a young daughter in 1996, she personally knows how difficult the situations are when families call or come in for services at Wilson & Kratzer. She gives her full heart and soul to every family served.
Avelina P. Rosas, Administrative Assistant

Avelina started working part-time at Wilson & Kratzer in April of 2005 as a night and weekend receptionist. In December of 2006, she was asked to come on-board full time. Accepting the position, she is now the lead administrative assistant and responsible for processing all of the death certificates and burial permits for both the Civic Center Chapel and Hosselkus Chapel locations. Before coming to Wilson & Kratzer, Avelina worked for ten years at St. Mark Catholic Church in Richmond, California as a Secretary/Bookkeeper. She enjoyed working in a multicultural church where she was able to assist both English and Spanish speaking community members. She was very involved in the various ministries of the church; one of them being the Gualdalupano Association, where she is still actively serving as the secretary of the organization.

Avelina was born and raised in Jalisco, Mexico. Currently she dedicates all of her free time to helping her sister take care of the 95 year old mother. She enjoys taking walks around her neighborhood and doing the gardening at her home. She feels that both activities help relieve the daily stress that work and life create. Working for Wilson & Kratzer Mortuaries in Richmond makes her feel that she is serving the same community that she was working with in the past at St. Mark and that makes her feel happy and rewarded for her efforts.
Joel Vicent Garland, Ambassador /Funeral Assistant

In 1979, Joes began working as a Life Insurance Agent, and is a Sales Manager for United Insurance Company of America.

Joel started working for Wilson & Kratzer Mortuaries in January of 2007 as an Ambassador/Funeral Assistant and plans to continue working for Wilson & Kratzer long after retiring from the Insurance field.

Joel was born in Tallulah, Louisiana, and moved to Oakland, California in 1955. He is a graduate of Castlemont High (class of 1967) and Merritt Jr. College (class of 1970). He also spent one year at the University of California, Berkeley.
Charles K. Johnson, Ambassador /Funeral Assistant

Charles, AKA C.J., was born in Oakland, California and raised in Richmond graduating from John F. Kennedy High School in 1975. He attended Diablo Valley College for two years. After graduating in 1978, he became a police officer for the Southern Pacific Railroad/City of Oakland. He retired early and took on duties driving limousines as shop manager with Godfather Limos. While driving for Godfather’s, he was introduced to the funeral industry and looked upon to assist funeral services that he was driving for. It wasn’t long after that he was asked to join the Wilson & Kratzer Mortuaries family in 1997, an opportunity he proudly took. In 2001, he left for a short period joining C.P. Bannon Mortuary in Oakland. After six long years, he returned back to his original family, Wilson & Kratzer Mortuaries as a Funeral Coordinator and multi-tasked employee serving the families.

In his spare time, C.J. referees basketball for C.Y.O. and has done so for the past twenty-four years. He enjoys spending time with his good friends, and especially with his family of three daughters, one son and two granddaughters as well as his many other extended family members. You can catch them on any given Sunday afternoon throwing a Barbeque and having a good time.
Jerry Guerrero, Ambassador /Funeral Assistant

Jerry has been a strong activist in his community having served as: a Pinole Planning Commissioner for 12 years, American Red Cross Disaster coordinator, Chamber of Commerce Vice President, Director of the Richmond YMCA, Contra Costa Grand Jury, Republican Central Committee, Boys Baseball, Inc., Masonic Lodge, Director of the Oakland Junior Chamber of Commerce, Chairman of the GI Forum of Richmond to name a few.

Jerry and his wife Eloise live in Pinole and have been married for almost 55 years, have four children, six grand children and two great-grandchildren.

Jerry came to work at Wilson & Kratzer in 2000 after retirement from over 30 years in newspaper advertising with 28 of those years with the Richmond Independent and also with the Oakland Tribune, San Leandro Morning News and the San Angelo Standard Times. He worked 12 years as a realtor. Jerry is also an Air Force veteran of the Korean War where he won a Presidential Citation and the Merit of Honor and while serving in Korea he was also the Public Relations and Information Specialist at the Kempo Air Force Base in Korea.
Marcia Muwwakkil-Gatlin, Ambassador /Funeral Assistant

Marcia, a wife, mother of three and grandmother of six, entered the work force in 1981. Her work experience included management in retail, food service and hotel. She is also an Independent Beauty Consultant for Mary Kay Cosmetics.

After the loss of her grandson, daughter and mother and being a cancer survivor, she felt she had the capacity to work in the mortuary service field at Wilson & Kratzer.In her spare time, she enjoys ballroom dancing, traveling and social event coordinating.

Marcia, a resident of San Pablo, California, grew up in the nation's capitol of Washington, D.C., moving to California in 1969
Gwen Rezentes, Ambassador /Funeral Assistant

Gwen is a resident of Pinole. She was born and raised in the Richmond / San Pablo area. She has been “on-call” with Wilson & Kratzer since 1998. She is a member of St. Joseph Catholic Church in Pinole where she serves as a “Eucharistic Minister” and is a member of the “Cursillo Community”. Before coming to Wilson & Kratzer, she managed a local Pediatric Practice for eighteen years and was then a Customer Service Supervisor for a local Medical Corporation. She is currently serving as the Captain of her Pinole Neighborhood Watch program.