Grandview Memorial Park

Glendale CA

David of Rosemead CA (7/15/04):
When one thinks of a memorial park, one thinks of beauty and peace. My dealings with Grandview Memorial Park in Glendale, CA have changed my views of the funeral industry dramatically. I have a great aunt who died in 1978 who was married to an early producer in the silent film era. His remains are not interred there, but Lelah, his wife, is. Upon her death she was cremated and scattered in a memorial garden dedicated for that purpose.

Like all other burials and cremations, there would be a reference to where she was interred. I wanted some information regarding the location within the park where was buried, a rose garden to be exact. I called Grandview a year ago, gave her name and death date, and nobody ever returned my call. I called once more and they claimed that their records are held on paper and they cannot immediately pull them up and that I should come down there with an exact birth date and death date. I visited Grandview later that month to do so. From the second I entered the park, I could tell that there was something wrong. The grass is entirely brown, headstones are sinking, some are so badly damaged that they are beyond repair.

I walked inside to find assistance and nobody was available. I waited for 10 minutes until somebody came out to help me. I gave them the information they requested and they tried once again finding the name. They came upon no results. Two months later I decided to visit once again. This time I parked my car and as I was walking I found a lady standing by a tree smoking a cigarette. I asked her where the owner was and she responded by telling me she was the owner. I asked for her name, and she told me she was Marsha Howard, who is in fact the owner. I questioned her concerning the condition of the cemetery. She said all of it is the city of Glendale's problem.

I proceeded in telling her my problem with trying to find my relative's interred location. To my surprise she laughed to herself and openly criticized the way I pronounced interred like I had no idea what I was talking about. She then went on to tell me to stay out of the garage there, which I merely looked at because of the two out of commission hearses and funeral items stacked to its roof.

She then claimed that the receptionist looked and that my relative is not buried there.

Possibly the most shocking of all is the Mausoleum. I stepped inside and knew immediately something was wrong. There the temperature inside the complex was around 80 degrees. I heard what sounded like insects swarming in one of the walls. There are columbium niches which have inscribed tin plating and glass fronts. Some of these plates are gone and there are no ashes to be found. The stained glass has been taken down "due to repairs" there are piles of cracked marble vault plates lying about, and many of the vaults have had leakage problems where they have sealed them with shower caulk.

As I wandered through the mausoleum, I noticed there were two private rooms that hold 6 vaults in each of them. All of the marble plates in the room were broken and sitting on the floor. Due to the age of the other surrounding vaults, they were all filled up sometime during the 1950s thus telling me that these vaults must have been used. You could also tell they were once used due to the screws that once held a nameplate on them. There is a small stairwell that leads to the lower portion of the mausoleum. It is blocked by a steel gate that is locked. I can just make out what looks like a large vault. I came back the following day with a flashlight and was blown away from what I saw.

There are 4 caskets on the lower level sitting on the floor. There are two in-ground burial vaults in the corner as well as chairs, pews, and other funeral equipment. As I scanned the flashlight around the room, I saw horrible water damage. There was a discolored substance that ran from the marble plates down to the floor.

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