Washington Memory Gardens 701 Ridge Road, Thornton, IL 60430

"Please bury your loved ones somewhere else . Standard burial (watching your family go under ground to the final resting place ) is not included in standard packages . My grandmother was left outside in 90 degree weather for hours after the family said final goodbyes before they moved her to the grave . It’s crazy . After asking management what’s taking so long , they stated they had to bury the people who paid for visual burial first . No respect for the deceased to leave them outside for hours after the family leaves"

"This place is one of the most financially exploitative cemeteries I’ve ever experienced. They nickel and dime you for everything and impose arbitrary, secret deadlines and applications for installing a headstone for your loved one. This might not be as galling if it were simple to find your loved one in the first place, but the plots are so badly managed and the cemetery map so difficult to decipher you have little to no hope of finding your loved one without a 2 hour excursion to the office (and you better just pray that it’s open!). I’ve never seen such a clinical, detached practice in the funeral business. You all should be ashamed how you exploit people’s grief for your own financial gain."

"I drive across two states to do volunteer, to repeat volunteer-bear-all-costs, “graving.” This is volunteer work where “gravers,” as we are called, take online requests to visit graves of requesters’ loved ones then photograph the graves and upload to the Find A Grave website. Since my family members are buried at Washington Memory I listed the cemetery as one where I can volunteer to fill a lot of requests. NOT SO FAST. The cemetery is very, very hard to navigate. Office staff will supply a map to grave sections and sites, but the map is hard to read. The. Cemetery is poorly marked with signage missing or difficult to determine where one part of the cemetery begins and another ends. If you are fortunate to find your targeted part of the cemetery then you have to determine where is a grave by determining where rows begin and end and where sections begin and end. Markers for rows and sections are rusted away or missing entirely. For volunteer visitors like myself this proves fatal to locating a grave. I spent two hours one time and almost four hours another time trying to find and fulfill ten requests. I successfully found and uploaded to Find A Grave photos of three graves requests! Three graves when I should have fulfilled atleast 12 requests. Due to the neglect of the staff in clearly marking parts>sections>rows of resting places it is very difficult to locate burial sites. Another issue is visitors to the cemetery need to curb their dogs. Seeing dog poo on graves is stomach churning and sad. Better yet, the cemetery needs to forbid dogs from the grounds if visitors are too insensitive to curb their pets! I have taken this cemetery off of my volunteer list. I absolutely hate “graving” at Washington Memory and am sorry my relatives are buried in the cemetery, too."

"Rude and condescending staff, both on the phone and in-person. Staff had no professionalism during our time of bereavement. I wasn't looking for sympathy or empathy, I was looking for good customer service, what you would expect from any business, but certain members of their staff failed miserably. If I as a customer present with kind energy, then why am I being met with impatience, horrible attitudes and hostile energy. It was almost as if any questions asked, whether big or small were a bother, just plain rude. I also feel like if your loved one already owns a plot at this location, they try to give you the run around. They made me jump through hoops, almost as if to scam me and get more money out of me. They tried to cast doubt on the paperwork I had to prove ownership of said plot and requested signatures that were not required. Needless to say in the end, those signatures were not provided because I held firm that they were not needed to prove ownership of the plot. If my loved one had not already purchased their plot at this location, I damn sure would not have laid my loved one to rest here. I really wish we could have went elsewhere, but it is what it is. When people are burying loved ones, emotions are running high. They will surely have many questions during this high stress time period and sometimes may have to ask the same questions a few times. People are trying to carry out the wishes of loved ones all whilst grieving themselves. If you as a staff member work in this type of industry and cannot understand that, then maybe your in the wrong business, this is unacceptable, this place needs to definitely do better."

"This is a wonderful final resting place. It is a very beautiful cemetery. My family have three love ones buried here: my mother, a nephew (age 8), and a niece (age 9). My mother was laid to rest in one of the Sepulchers in the wall which faces her two grandchildren. Our family make treks out there 3 or more times a year. We bring chairs, balloons, flowers, and our loved ones favorite food to celebrate their lives. We also go annually to clean the graves off for our niece and nephew. It gives us a sense peace knowing they are together."