OUR FAMILY

Our Family

In 1915, Fred L. Cournoyer opened our family's funeral home and began serving the Monadnock Region and beyond with the best personal and professional service he was able to provide.

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Why Us?

Today, we continue in the tradition he began, providing you with friendly, sincere and gentle care. As a family, we have grown up with the knowledge and understanding of all that is needed to help you and your loved ones in your greatest time of need. With our commitment to remain an independent, family owned and operated funeral home, you can be assured that we will continue to serve you for generations to come.

Being the Monadnock Region's oldest family owned funeral home, we have not been tempted to stay idle, or to merely keep up with the times. Instead, we continue to be leaders and stay ahead of what eventually becomes the current trend in funeral services. For example, in 1959 we were among the first in the area to assist families with cremation services; our assistance with pet loss began in 1984, and personalizing and individualizing funerals has always been available here.

Our commitment to you is to ensure that every decision you make is knowledgeable and comfortable for all. With more than 100 years of experience in providing assistance, we are able to offer simple suggestions to make every service more meaningful. Additionally, we will continue to provide all families with a comfortable, safe, and homelike atmosphere, with the best personal and professional care that only a family owned funeral home can provide.


None of this would be possible without our specifically chosen team of dedicated professionals devoted to helping you.

If you take a few minutes to get to know us online, when you walk through our doors and see our familiar faces, it is our hope that it will make your experience with us that much better.

Sincerely,
Mark Cournoyer


 Fred L. Cournoyer
Fred L. Cournoyer
Our Founder 1879 ~ 1954
Fred L. Cournoyer
Our Founder 1879 ~ 1954

The Cournoyer Funeral Home and Cremation Center was founded in 1915 by Fred L. Cournoyer, and has been serving families from the same location since 1917. Mr. Cournoyer was a former selectman of Jaffrey; he was also owner-operator of the F.L. Cournoyer grocery store on Main Street in Jaffrey. Mr. Cournoyer was a civic-minded individual and, upon the encouragement of family and friends, decided to enter the funeral profession. After graduating from the Massachusetts College of Embalming, he established the business and pioneered a legacy of excellent service under its original name, F.L. Cournoyer & Sons.

 Randyl P. Cournoyer
Randyl P. Cournoyer
2nd Generation 1915 ~ 2001
Randyl P. Cournoyer
2nd Generation 1915 ~ 2001

Fred’s son, Randyl P. Cournoyer, graduated from Boston College in 1936 after receiving his Bachelor’s degree in Medical Science. Soon after, he joined his father in the operation of the family business. Randyl then passed the State of New Hampshire’s Funeral Director and Embalmer exams and became a licensed funeral director in 1938. After his father's death in 1954, Randyl closed the grocery store in 1958 and continued to operate the funeral home as well as an insurance agency, which he had purchased from Louis Cournoyer in 1939. Randyl was very active in the Jaffrey community, having served for many years as the trustee of the trust funds for the Town of Jaffrey, as well as having served on the Jaffrey Gilmore Foundation and with the Jaffrey Grange. In 1997, The Jaffrey Chamber of Commerce selected Randyl as the Director’s Award recipient of 1997. He continued to be actively involved with the business until his death on January 1, 2001.

 Randyl P. Cournoyer, Jr.
Randyl P. Cournoyer, Jr.
3rd Generation
Randyl P. Cournoyer, Jr.
3rd Generation

Randyl’s son, Randy, joined the family business after his graduation from both St. Anselm College in Manchester, New Hampshire and the New England Institute of Anatomy and Science in Boston, Massachusetts. He became a licensed funeral director in 1966. The business continued on more or less unchanged in the family home on River Street until 1980, when the legal owner of the business, Mrs. Kathleen Cournoyer (Randyl, Sr.'s mother) died. Following her death, Randy, also a licensed insurance agent in his father's agency, decided to make the funeral business his full-time occupation. Randy began reconstructing the family home into the current facility, now known as the Cournoyer Funeral Home & Cremation Center.


Randy has also been very active in the Jaffrey community. He has been involved with St. Patrick Church, the Knights of Columbus, the Jaffrey- Rindge Lions Club, Jaffrey’s Boy Scout Troop 33, the Jaffrey Gilmore Foundation, the Jaffrey Conservation Commission, Monadnock Compassionate Friends, and the Alice Poole Fund. Randy was chosen as the Jaffrey Chamber of Commerce Citizen of the Year in 1994.


Most recently, and after having served the Monadnock Region in Funeral Service for over 50 years, Randy has been able to enjoy a little more time off traveling around the country with his wife Patricia. He still enjoys assisting at the funeral home, but he has stepped back from his primary role.

Mark R. Cournoyer
Mark R. Cournoyer
4th Generation
Mark R. Cournoyer
4th Generation

Randy's son, Mark, joined the family business and became fully licensed in 1994 after graduating summa cum laude from the New England Institute of Funeral Service Education at Mount Ida College in Newton, Massachusetts. Mark is one of the few Funeral Directors in New Hampshire to achieve the designation of Certified Funeral Service Practitioner by the Academy of Professional Funeral Service Practice. 'CFSP' is the most prestigious of Funeral Service's national individual recognitions. This achievement is especially notable because Mark has voluntarily participated in quality educational and service opportunities that far surpass what the funeral service licensing board in New Hampshire requires. He has also been awarded the nationally recognized Certified Preplanning Consultant designation by the National Funeral Directors Association, which is considered the standard of excellence in Funeral Service for individuals who help families plan funerals in advance.


Mark is a Past President of the New Hampshire Funeral Directors Association after serving for over 12 years on the Executive Board and holding several of offices through the years. He expanded his commitment to funeral service to the national level and served as the National Funeral Director Association's Legislative Policy Board Representative for the State of New Hampshire until 2015. In this role, Mark continuously endeavored to improve survivor benefits in both the Social Security and Veterans Administration programs.


Mark had previously enjoyed an active life in public safety. He had served on the Jaffrey-Rindge VFW Memorial Ambulance Service as an EMT-Intermediate for 8 years and had also worked in law enforcement for more than 10 years on the Jaffrey and Fitzwilliam Police Departments. He has been a member of the Jaffrey Juvenile Diversion Committee and was a Critical Incident Stress Debriefer for the local Fire, Rescue, EMS and Police agencies. For over 15 years, Mark actively served, first with FEMA and later as a founding member of Homeland Security, on the National Disaster Medical System’s Region 1 Disaster Mortuary Operational Response Team. He assisted in the recovery and identification of victims from several incidents around our country, including his most memorable deployment to Gulfport, MS assisting after Hurricane Katrina. Locally, Mark was a consultant for the State of New Hampshire’s task force developing appropriate responses to the Flu and COVID pandemics and other mass fatality events that could occur within our State.


Mark had attained the rank of Eagle Scout in 1985 with Jaffrey's Boy Scout Troop 33. He had served on the Troop Committee for several years and later served as the Cubmaster and on the Pack Committee of Cub Scout Pack 33 in Jaffrey. Mark enjoyed the scouting program once again while his son advanced through the program and he was able to serve as an Assistant Scoutmaster and as a Mentor to several new Eagle Scouts in Troop 33.


Mark continues to reside in Jaffrey with his wonderful wife, Dawn and their children.  



“I am very proud that we are the oldest family owned and operated funeral home in the Monadnock Region. I fully understand that being able to place your trust in a family that has deep roots in the community is extremely important at a delicate and difficult time. I am honored to work with the very best staff in funeral service anywhere today, and I am confident that with the abilities we share as a team, we can continue to provide every family we are called upon to serve with the absolute highest quality of care.” Mark Cournoyer

Garrett Cournoyer
Garrett Cournoyer
5th Generation
Garrett Cournoyer
5th Generation

Garrett began assisting us here at the funeral home in 2016. He graduated with the Class of 2020 from Conant High School, and is entering his Senior year at Saint Michael's College in Colchester, Vermont, where he is studying Business Administration and Psychology. Garrett is a Certified Firefighter and Nationally Registered EMT and is licensed in both New Hampshire and Vermont. He is currently serving on the Jaffrey Fire Department, and is the Captain and Training Officer on Saint Michael's Fire and Rescue. He still enjoys playing and coaching soccer, as well as swimming competitively, and intends to attend funeral service school after Saint Michael's.   

Dawn Cournoyer
Dawn Cournoyer
Special Projects Manager
Dawn Cournoyer
Special Projects Manager

Mark's wife, Dawn, joined Cournoyer Funeral home in the spring of 2021 working on special projects with Mark, and she continues to take on projects as needed. She has brought fresh eyes to the office that has added in the area of organization and time management techniques that have helped us all to become more efficient. 


Dawn is currently the U.S. History Teacher at the Jaffrey Rindge Middle School, but has a previous background managing a distribution warehouse of finished oil products, in Central Nebraska, where she was responsible for purchasing, inventory control, implementing new systems and writing procedures to go with them, as well as managing a staff and fleet of trucks. In 2013 after moving to New Hampshire Dawn decided to follow a lifelong dream to become a teacher. 

  

Dawn has a degree in English Literature from Keene State College, a degree in transportation and logistics management from Bellevue University, a Master’s degree in Education from Southern New Hampshire University and is currently working on another Master’s degree in U.S. History from Gettysburg College. Learning is a passion for Dawn and this has carried over into the Funeral Industry where she has been intrigued by most things within the Funeral Service arena.

 

Dawn has been married to Mark since July of 2021, and has three wonderful children; Katelyn, a junior at Rivier University in their Nursing Program, Andrew, who is a Corporal in the United States Marine Corps, and Nicholas who is a 6th grader at Jaffrey Rindge Middle School.  She loves spending time with family, traveling to historical sites and museums, visiting her family in Nebraska, reading, and when she has time, long walks on the beach or hiking. 


Kali J. Crowley
Kali J. Crowley
~ General Manager ~ Licensed Funeral Director & Embalmer
Kali J. Crowley
~ General Manager ~ Licensed Funeral Director & Embalmer


Larissa Nichols
Larissa Nichols
~ Funeral Associate ~
Larissa Nichols
~ Funeral Associate ~


 Ziva
Ziva
~ Our Therapy Dog ~
Ziva
~ Our Therapy Dog ~

Ziva is our 6-year-old Black Lab from Boonefield Labradors in Rindge, NH where Peggi Brogan breeds beautiful, gentle and compassionate dogs for families and service.


Ziva is our very first certified therapy dog and is continuing her exposure here at the funeral home and out in the community. She loves people and is a very friendly and exuberant greeter! It is our hope to continue to bring comfort to grieving families in this new and very gentle way, however, we understand that some may have allergies and others may be uncomfortable with dogs, so Ziva won’t join us unless she is invited by your family.

Devin McEntee
Devin McEntee
~ Licensed Funeral Director & Embalmer ~
Devin McEntee
~ Licensed Funeral Director & Embalmer ~

Devin has been associated with the funeral home since the fall of 2015.  He served as a Licensed Apprentice before eventually becoming a fully licensed Embalmer and Funeral Director here in New Hampshire.


He is a resident of Lyndeborough, and was raised and educated in Wilton.  He obtained his bachelors in Business Management from Daniel Webster College, Nashua, and later attended Mount Ida College, Newton, MA for his degree in Mortuary Science.  


Devin is a call member with the Lyndeborough Fire Department and enjoys being able to give back to his community in his capacity there as a Firefighter/EMT.  


Devin is married to Hannah (Brooks) McEntee and together have a daughter Ellie.  He is a member of the New Hampshire Funeral Directors Association and the National Funeral Directors Association.  


Devin enjoys traveling to Maine with his family and also to Florida for a round of golf and escaping the cold winter for a few days.    

Christie Seppala
Christie Seppala
~ Funeral Associate ~
Christie Seppala
~ Funeral Associate ~


Kevin Mathieu
Kevin Mathieu
~ Funeral Associate ~
Kevin Mathieu
~ Funeral Associate ~


Jack Byrne
Jack Byrne
Administrative Assistant
Jack Byrne
Administrative Assistant


Andrew Garneau
Andrew Garneau
~ Funeral Associate ~
Andrew Garneau
~ Funeral Associate ~


Damian Philbrick
Damian Philbrick
~ Funeral Associate ~
Damian Philbrick
~ Funeral Associate ~


Katelyn Garneau
~ Funeral Associate ~
Katelyn Garneau
~ Funeral Associate ~


Paige Ducharme
~ Funeral Associate ~
Paige Ducharme
~ Funeral Associate ~


Michael MacIntosh
~ Funeral Associate ~
Michael MacIntosh
~ Funeral Associate ~


Dave Myer
~ Funeral Associate ~
Dave Myer
~ Funeral Associate ~


Shawn Chamberlain
~ Funeral Associate ~
Shawn Chamberlain
~ Funeral Associate ~


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