It is peculiar. This is my 2nd cemetery write-up. They are both for different purposes though…read more The 1st one was after my mother's burial & I was moved to relate some of the aspects of the place & time. This one has to do with my ' hobby' where I spend a good deal of time in cemeteries. Weird huh? I like to volunteer for the site Find-A-Grave, doing photo requests for folks looking for gravestones of family, friends, Vets, heroes. Being in Mendocino county, there are many smaller, pioneer cemeteries, but here in the metropolis of Ukiah, we have one pretty big one, about 15,000+ souls. And it is fairly old, with the earliest graves moved here in 1875 from other places. So the 'work' is come & go, so to speak. Some weeks may have a dozen or more requests, and like this week, only 1. When there aren't many coming in, I get a kind of withdrawal! It has become an obsession. i just enjoy doing it. This Russian River District cemetery is a tranquil, well laid out space, amid giant redwood, cedar & hardwood trees. Roaming families of deer abound. The stones run from ornate with iron fences surrounding, to a wooden plank or cross that is no longer legible. Many are just the simple stone plaque inserted in the ground. The ones I find sad, and are disappointing to relay to the requestor are the unmarked graves, with no stone or marker. Also occasionally one of the folks I'm searching for was a resident of the Mendocino State Hospital when it was a mental institution until the mid 1970's. Those 1400+ folks who died while living there are buried in a very tasteful memorial plot , but not individually identified. Sometimes it is shocking news to report! The staff in the office have always been very responsive to my requests & very helpful... emailing me plot maps with locations & helping in many ways. I would literally be lost without them. I did have a personal concern awhile back. I was reading an engrossing book, "Holy Ghosts: Or How a (Not-So) Good Catholic Boy Became a Believer in Things That Go Bump in the Night " by Gary Jansen. This author had used the paranormal investigator Mary Ann Winkowski to rid his house of spirits. I found on her website a question forum & I asked her about visiting cemeteries regularly & if I was 'inviting' lost spirits to accompany me home! Yikes! I don't want that. She said & I quote " .. it won't happen. Spirits don't tend to stay at their graves. Cemeteries are for the living." Well, that made me feel a lot better!

I have family members buried here, and I visit fairly often. This cemetery is also known as the…read moreRussian River Cemetery District. The grounds staff are amazing. They do great work and are extremely friendly. They smile and wave. They try to take care of items placed on graves, which isn't necessarily their responsibility. The administrative staff member that we met was extremely accomodating. Animal life in the cemetery is abundant and actually astonishing to observe throughout the year. If you bring flowers or a plant to place at a grave site, please understand that animals are animals and usually your tasty plants or flowers will be reduced to a bundle of stems within about 24 hours. This is a hard and fast rule, and the staff will recommend artificial plants for longer-lasting tributes. I happen to enjoy finding that my choice of plant was especially tasty. But take a photo for a keepsake if the live arrangement you bring is especially meaningful to you. It's a sacred place for me, so I'll stop here and let readers discover the rest for themselves. I'm thankful for such a nice place to visit and enjoy.

I am deeply disappointed and frustrated by the lack of empathy and professional flexibility shown…read moreby the staff at Pleasant Hills Memorial Park and Mortuary. We are currently navigating the devastating loss of my close relative, who passed away while under the 'care' of her 'husband.' Despite the fact that the biological family--not the 'husband'--has fully funded the burial and the headstone, the administration is stubbornly siding with his demand to include his name on the monument. Without a head stone it has been very difficult for mourning family to even identify where she is buried. They have refused all attempts at compromise. The cemetery personnel have remained completely intransigent, ignoring the family's wishes and the specific circumstances of this tragedy. Rather than being a place of peace and healing, their rigid adherence to "standard protocol" over common sense and financial responsibility has added unnecessary trauma to an already heartbreaking situation. If you are looking for a facility that values the input of the grieving family members who are actually responsible for the arrangements, look elsewhere.

My family laid my Great Grandmother and Great Grandfather to rest here, so when my Grandmother…read morepassed this where she wanted to be. First of all, it is a BEAUTIFUL location, so peaceful. My Grandmother's service was last year and the woman we worked with was great. Since her service I have visited monthly and always bring a bouquet of silk flowers for my visit with her. The first handful of months when I would visit, the flowers I had brought her were still present in their small terracotta pot that I arranged them in (with the green styrofoam in the bottom of the pot--as one would do to secure the flowers from flying away or falling). As the months went by, and I went to visit, the flowers from the previous visit would be removed, which bothered me a bit but I didn't think too much into it, as there were many rainy days. This past month I visited once again and her flowers were once again removed, but this time, the terracotta pot was left behind. The flowers removed and styrofoam removed, which had to take some effort because I am sure to jam it down into the bottom of the pot. Not only was the empty pot just sitting there, but there was TRASH IN IT next to my Grandmother's plot. Needless to say, that was the point of me being officially upset. I went to the office and waited for someone to come out so I could speak to them and figure out what the deal was with maintenance, thinking maybe they have a system in place where they dispose of flowers after a certain amount of time. A woman did eventually come out, not the sweet lady that helped with my Grandmother's service, but another woman who I wish I had got her name, but I didn't. Either way, I explained the situation and concerns, and asked if there was a schedule for disposing flowers so I could adjust my visits accordingly to be sure my Grandmother has flowers rather than nothing or an empty pot with trash in it. The woman informed me that they actually don't allow "decorations" and any "decorations" are disposed of whenever the landscapers come across them. I was taken back and had to clarify, that she did in fact mean that flowers were considered "decorations" and that they were not allowed, to which she said "yes, that is correct". I looked on their website and see nothing about this but conveniently see a whole section about sending flowers. I find this very off putting and in poor taste. Especially given that throughout the property there are many trees with ornaments in them in honor of peoples loved ones who have passed, and flowers all over the property. I hope that the owner or director can provide information about this on their website, as I am sure I am not the only one who enjoys visiting their loved ones and bringing flowers. I am going back next week and I am hoping that if my Grandmother's flowers were once again disposed of that they did not leave an empty pot next to her plot to become a trash can. I will not be as kind and understanding if that is the case.

I recently had a loved passed away within the last week. We called Elvira at Windsor Mortuary to…read morearrange for the services. She was very professional and courteous and guided us every step of way. John and Jessica did an excellent job at fixing my brother that he looked just the way he did before he's passing. John went the extra mile to make sure we were taken care off and show sympathy for our pain. You two went beyond the call of duty. Thank you Elvira for everything you did. Highly recommend this Mortuary.

Nina was very helpful and knowledgeable. She made the whole process of arranging my mom's funeral…read moreeasy. Thanks for all your help Nina

Do not have any of your love ones brought here as what is happening with my brother who has been…read morehere two whole months of this post to get cremated Nothing is scheduled Not even death certificates have been issued Put your love ones elsewhere My poor brother

From reporting the death of my husband, to sending death certificates my experience was horrible…read more I never received notice that my husband's body was picked up, they actually told me I had not reported the death- Untrue- the charge nurse and I called it in, when we finally "found" his body they called me by the wrong name, had the wrong information for the death certificate-- the final had an error-- the county had to fix it and were unresponsive. I did rrecieve my husbands ashes- in a box that would scare the faint of heart-- shipped to my home with hazmat stickers all over it-- a friend took it away, and the death certificates- with errors 7 weeks after his death. A terrible , non responsive experience-- during a time where some compassion would have been great. No call answering, no email responses, multiple errors.