Last month a judge in Indiana removed the obligation of taking care of a non-profit cemetery away from the cemetery corporation and placed it in the hands of the government. . . in this case Center Township.  In his decision, Judge Nathan Meeks commented that the Marion Cemetery Corporation efforts to maintain the cemetery were like a “few brave souls bailing water from the Titanic“.

 

Judge Meeks ruled that the cemetery, which has been the center of complaints and neglect for some time, should be placed in the hands of township trustee Deborah Cain, allowing her to take over care and maintenance of the cemetery.  The ruling, issued July 17, grants the township trustee full control over the cemetery’s financial matters, operations, grounds maintenance and repairs effective immediately.

 

The cemetery, Estates of Serenity located in Marion, Indiana, dates back to the 1800’s and has over 70,000 completed burials on over 100 acres of land.

 

As to how the cemetery got in the condition of disrepair the current President of the non-profit which owns the cemetery made these comments, “There’s so many cremations now, they’re just dropping the bodies off and not even doing viewings.   “Then they pick them up, take them home on the shelf or in a closet. So I’ve lost $120,000 in maintenance revenue from that.”

 

Prior to the pandemic the cemetery completed 150 burials per year and in 2024 that number had dropped to 54.

 

Not without a cost —  Township Trustee Deborah Cain also announced that she has recieved committments of $300,000 each from the city and county councils to fix up the cemetery.

 

Related Information — You can read an article and/or view a video news report on this action here.

 

Funeral Director Daily take —  I think that there is more to this story than reported here.  It’s appears from reading the article that the non-profit that owns the cemetery and its President, Brian Jeffrey, have some type of arrangement with the Marion Cemetery Corporation that brings some type of benefit to Mr. Jeffrey.

 

The article points out that in February 2025 the Indiana Funeral and Cemetery Board found Jeffrey had failed to:

• Regularly mow large section of the grounds
• Trim around monuments
• Remove dead or dying trees
• Repair and reset monuments

 

The article also says that Jeffrey has filed a notice of appeal on Judge Meeks’recent decision.

 

My main point in bringing this article forward is regardless of why the cemetery is in disrepair, I understand why those with loved ones interred in the cemetery or those with ownership of lots for future interments are interested in repairing the cemetery.  However, I also wonder how thrilled that city and county residents are with $600,000 of their tax dollars going to keep up and restore a non-profit entity?

 

And, if the revenue from interments is insufficient to keep the cemetery financially solvent, how much more money will have to be spent by the taxpayers to subsidize the operation in the future?

 

As cremations and other disposition options continue to grow and as Americans use cemeteries less often in the future how many of these situations — where cemeteries cannot pay for their upkeep — will we discover?  And, what will be the remedy for solving what might be a large problem for non-profit cemeteries?

 

More news from the world of Death Care:

• From the Commissioner:  Is Western Australia’s funeral pricing code working?  Government of Western Australia
• Cremation has become the norm in northern Ontario — funeral director’s say that has changed how they operate.  CBC News (Canada)
• Gainesville crematorium may soon be running again, residents unhappy with proposed improvements.  Video news story and print article.  WCJB Channel 20 – Gainesville (FL)

 

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