History & Staff
We have years of experience caring for families, from all walks of life. Each family comes to us because they know we are leaders in our profession, dedicated to excellence in service, and have the highest integrity.
When we sit down with a family, we have just one goal: to create a fitting, memorable and affordable service for their loved one. Together, we explore the wide variety of services and products available, 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
Sunset Memorial Park was formally dedicated 74 years ago on Sunday, September 16th, 1934 by Mr. A. H. Bruning of Joliet, IL. Mr. and Mrs. Charles Van Camp purchased Sunset Memorial Park in the late 1940’s. Mr. Van Camp was the cemetery superintendent for Mr. Bruning. The Darby Family, Charles and Florence Darby along with their two sons, James and David acquired Sunset Memorial Park in 1960. Sunset Funeral Home located in Danville, IL was opened by the Darby's in December of 1984.Sunset became one of the first funeral home/cemetery combinations in the state of Illinois.
Due to the level of service and care that Sunset provided to it's families, other local funeral home's contacted the Darby Family to purchase their businesses upon their retirement. In 1994, the Darby Family acquired Houghton-Leasure Funeral Home in Georgetown, Illinois. In 2004, a new building was erected in Westville Illinois, now called Sunset-Urbas Funeral Chapel of Westville. In 2006, Sunset acquired a facility in Oakwood, Illinois, Sunset's Oakwood Chapel, and also erected a new facility in Covington, Indiana, now named Sunset's Covington Chapel. Sunset Funeral Homes currently offers the families of East Central Illinois and West Central Indiana a choice of five funeral homes, a cemetery, a crematory, as well as Executive Plaza banquet facility. Now, the third generation of the Darby family currently owns Sunset and its entities. Owners: Rich Darby-COO Donna Darby-Walthall-CFO Linda Darby-Sempsrott-CEO.
Our Valued Staff
Rich Darby, Chief Operations Officer
Rich has been at Sunset Funeral Home for 27 years. Rich has three boys and is currently living in Danville, Illinois with his wife Jill. Rich can be found spending time with his family, watching NASCAR Racing, football, fishing, boating, and traveling.
Linda Darby, Chief Executive Officer
Linda has over 28 years at Sunset Funeral Home. She lives in Danville, Illinois, where she can be found spending time with her grandchildren, horseback riding, and spending time outdoors.
Donna Darby-Walthall, Chief Financial Officer
Donna has been a part of the scene here at Sunset Funeral Home for 35 years. She and her husband, Jim live in Danville, Illinois. Her hobbies include laying out by the pool, collecting miniature shoes, she is an avid University of Illinois football and basketball fan and an Indianapolis Colts fan she also enjoys spending time with her family.
Jill Darby, Care Coordinator
Jill started at Sunset Funeral Home in February of 2010. She and her husband, Rich live in Danville, IL. Jill enjoys spending time with her family and friends, watching basketball or reality tv, hanging out by the pool, beach or lake, movies and finding new places to dine.
Lindsey Walthall-Murphy, Marketing Director
Lindsey represents the fourth generation of the Darby family to work in funeral service. She has been working for the family business since 2002 and began full time after graduating from Illinois College in May of 2009. She and her husband, Jason and their twin sons Caden and Logan live in Champaign, Illinois. Lindsey enjoys shopping, watching/playing sports, spending time with her family and beagle, Bailey.
Ethan Darby, Director of Business Development
Ethan represents the fourth generation of the Darby family to work in funeral service. He has been working for the family business since 2005 and began full time after graduating from Illinois State University in May of 2012. He currently resides in Danville, Illinois, where he can be found watching and playing basketball and football, swimming, boating, spending time with friends and family, going to concerts, and traveling.
Jason Murphy, Director of Family Services
Jason has been with Sunset Funeral Home for 3 years. He and his wife, Lindsey and twin sons Caden and Logan live in Champaign, Illinois. Jason can be found either playing or watching sports, enjoys spending time outdoors and spending time with his family and beagle, Bailey.
Drew Edwards, General Manager
Drew has been with Sunset Funeral Home for 18 years. He, his wife Mandi, and their three sons reside in Cayuga, Indiana. When he's not working, Drew enjoys hunting, fishing, golf, basketball and anything to do with the outdoors.
Tammy Hopper, Family Service Advisor
Tammy has been with Sunset Funeral Home for 18 years. She and her husband, Shane along with her children reside in Danville, Illinois, where she can be found scrapbooking, doing crafts and spending time with her family, and their animal companions.
Vicki Crawford, Legacy Advisor
Vicki has been with Sunset Funeral Home for 5 years. She and her husband, Mark live in Danville, Illinois. When not working, she loves to vacation with her two daughters and husband in Door County, Wisconsin.
Janet Brewer, Family Service Advisor
Janet joined the staff at Sunset Funeral Home in July of 2012. She lived in Mahomet, IL for 16 years prior to moving back home to Danville, IL. Janet enjoys spending time with her three children; Dane, Nolan and Meredith as well as reading, decorating and cooking.
Ami Mann, Administrative Assistant
Ami has been with Sunset Funeral Home for 18 years. She has two children, and resides in Hoopeston, Illinois. In her time away from the office, she enjoys spending time with the children, friends, and family. She also enjoys watching movies and TV, and reading.
Lynn Lewis, Cemetery Operations
Lynn has been with Sunset Funeral Home for over 5 years. She is married with three children, and resides with her husband, Mike in Collison, Illinois. In her spare hours, she enjoys reading, camping, and traveling.
Anne Jarling, Administrative Assistant
Anne joined the Sunset team in April 2012. She currently resides in Oakwood, Illinois with her husband, Greg and two sons Conor and Gavin. On her off time she enjoys spending time with her family, beekeeping and sharing the honey and homemade beeswax lip balm with friends and family. Anne also enjoys figure skating She teaches a basic skills class to beginner figure skaters.
Francine Dowers, Director of Bereavement Support & Community Education
Francine has been with Sunset Funeral Home for over 9 years. She and her husband, Richard live in Westville, Illinois. In her time away from the office, she enjoys hiking, painting and reading.
Jessica Clifford, Graphics Coordinator
Jessica joined the Sunset team in December 2011. She currently resides in Perrysville, Indiana and is originally from Westville, Illinois. On her off time she enjoys spending time with her fiance, Adam Krankavitch, four wheeling, fishing, playing slow pitch softball, scrapbooking, crafts and photography. She also enjoys spending time with her family, friends and three dogs, Rowdy, Willow & Tula.
Cathy Christian, Administrative Assistant
Cathy has been with Sunset Funeral Home for over 8 years. She, her husband, Jeremiah and their two children live in Georgetown, Illinois. When she's not working, she enjoys being outdoors and working around the house and loves spending time with her family.
Ken Miller, Licensed Funeral Director
Ken has been with Sunset Funeral Home for 18 years. He and his wife, Barb live in Danville, Illinois. He is a member of Second Church of Christ, and enjoys camping and riding motorcycles.
Brad Tucker, Licensed Funeral Director
Brad has been with Sunset Funeral Home for 3 years. He, his wife, Alicia and their son live in Covington, Indiana. His hobbies include watching Cardinals baseball, TV and movies (especially Star Wars), reading, and spending time with his family.
Justin Levingston, Licensed Funeral Director
Justin joined the staff at Sunset Funeral Home in July of 2011. He graduated from Carl Sandburg College in Galesburg, IL in 2010 with his associates in applied science-mortuary science. His hobbies include sports, boating, spending time with his English Bulldog, Oakley, hunting and fishing. Justin is also an avid Cardinals and Chicago Bears Fan.
Shannon Allison, Licensed Funeral Director
Shannon joined the staff at Sunset Funeral Home in September of 2012. She currently resides in Danville, Illinois and is from Williamsville, IL. Her hobbies include reading, refinishing furniture, watching old World War II movies, writing lists, listening to bagpipes and organizing her groceries in the checkout line.
Bonnie Wehrman, Licensed Funeral Director
Bonnie joined the staff at Sunset on December 3, 2012. She and her husband, Richard currently reside in Danville, Illinois and is from Oregon, IL. They have two sons, Doug (Amanda) Wehrman; David (Stacy) Wehrman; and one grandson, 3 yr old Jase. Bonnie can be found spending time with her family, doing needlepoint and crafts; cooking; and various outdoor activities such as fishing, camping and gardening.
Stacey Wagner, Licensed Funeral Director
Stacey has been with Sunset since February of 2013. She currently lives in Champaign, IL and is from Thomasboro, IL. On her off time Stacey enjoys camping, hiking, boating, flying, volleyball and spending time with her friends, family, and dog, Chloe.
Mary Stonecipher, Horticulturist
Mary has been with Sunset Memorial Park for 16 years. She and her husband, Ron currently reside in Bismarck, Illinois with their two daughters. She can be found spending time with her family, gardening, or out for a Sunday drive in their Model T. Mary is also a University of Illinois Extension Master Gardener.
Lois Sutton, Horticulturist
Lois has been with Sunset Memorial Park for 7 years. She has three daughters, and currently lives in Rossville, Illinois. Her hobbies include reading, gardening and swimming. She also enjoys activities as a member of the Alvin Church.
Patrick Lewis, Grounds Superintendant
Patrick has been with Sunset Memorial Park for the past five years. He lives with his wife, Gail and two children in Danville, Illinois.In his spare time, Patrick enjoys bike riding, drawing, reading and movies.
Brandon Pettigrew, Grounds Maintenance
Brandon has moved from working in our plant to working on the cemetery grounds in the fall of 2011. He has been with us since May 29th, 2006. He is from and currently lives in Westville, IL.
Jaime Contreras, Grounds Maintenance
Jaime joined the cemetery grounds team in March of 2012. He has one child, Jaimie Contreras III. Jaimie resides and is from Danville, Illinois. In his free time, he enjoys spending time with his family and friends.
Bob McGraugh, Funeral Director
Bob has been with Sunset Funeral Home for 7 years. Bob has two daughters, three grandchildren, and one great-grandchild. Currently Bob lives in Danville, Illinois, and when he's not help families here at Sunset Funeral Home, you can find him fishing, golfing, or volunteering with local organizations. He also loves to travel.
James Blue, Reverand James Blue, Funeral Director's Assistant
Pastor Blue has been with Sunset Funeral Home for 16 years. He and his wife,Christinia currently reside in Georgetown, Illinois, and have the joy of spending time with their three children, seven grandchildren and two great grandchildren. When not spending time with his extended family, he enjoys quiet hours reading the Bible, doing yard work and watching old westerns.
Charles DeBarba, Funeral Director’s Assistant
Charles has been with Sunset Funeral Home for 7 years. He, his wife, Cindy and their son live in Westville, Illinois. In his spare time, he enjoys the outdoors and spending time with family.
Everett Clark, Funeral Director’s Assistant
Everett has been with Sunset Funeral Home for over 5 years. He is married, with three daughters. Everett and his wife, Norma live in Danville, Illinois. He is a gospel concert organizer, and when he's not working at the funeral home or in this position, he enjoys watching sports, working at his computer, and spending time with family.
