Highland Cemetery is in a fairly hidden location off of Blue Ridge Blvd between the city limits of…read moreKansas City and Independence. Highland was one of KC's first black owned burial grounds founded in 1909. It is a fairly large cemetery that no longer accepts new burials and is ran by the land trust of Jackson County that oversees abandoned properties. The upkeep looked decent for being overseen by an agency that does not specialize in cemetery care. Be careful driving through, my gravel path, turned to a rutted grass path and then just disappeared leaving me to try and turn around in an area that was unsettling to navigate - was I driving on graves? I hope not! Be careful. As a local history buff and a lover of music; my focus was finding the grave of jazz legend and Kansas City native Bennie Moten. It is fairly easy to find due to the shape of the upright stone. The cemetery is just a mile north of the Lincoln Cemetery where Charlie Parker rests eternal, so stop in a pay your respect to both of these legends.

I received a call informing me of the very unexpected death of my father, late afternoon, on…read moreMarch 27th. I called my wife and I left work so we could start the 6 hour drive to Independence. The next morning we started to initiate a plan because my father did not make any arrangements. I was unfamiliar with any local services and relied on faith when I chose Newcomers Noland Road Chapel from my google search. We were able to meet with Don Birney and discuss our options. We really relied on his experience to guide us. What I expected to be a difficult task turned out to be extremely easy and affordable. Don was very compassionate and thorough during his assistance. Since my father was a Veteran, Don informed us of veteran's assistance. We had arrangements completed within an hour. We had many other matters to attend to and Don assured us he would continue to oversee my father's arrangements as well as the death certificate procedure. We returned to Illinois and Don stayed in daily contact with updates. His perseverance with getting the death certificate signed was invaluable. I received my father's remains in a very timely manner. I can't express enough our appreciation and satisfaction with Don and Newcomers. I highly recommend them for your family.

From the owner: Celebrating each life like no other…read more Each one of us is unique with our own story to tell. As North America's largest provider of funeral, cremation and cemetery services, Dignity Memorial professionals excel at helping families create meaningful tributes that truly celebrate the lives of the individuals they represent.With an extensive network of more than 2,000 locations throughout the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico, Dignity Memorial providers offer families personalized services and advanced-planning options to meet any need. From the simple to the extraordinary, your Dignity Memorial professionals are here to see that your special story is told.

Making funeral and burial arrangements for my loved one has turned into a complete nightmare. No…read moreone should have to go through this when they're trying to lay their loved one to rest. No one knows what their doing and management is just as bad.

All the best here with Phil Z and Cassie! Thank you for…read moreyour compassion and kindness with our family.

Empathic and took care of several important notifications. Taylor comforted me several times as I…read moream the Executor of our mother's affairs. Thank you$

Carson-Speaks honored my step dad's pre-need plan. It was a plan bought from the man who went…read morebankrupt, and didn't return any of the money and is now in jail. I vaguely remember it in the news about 15 years ago, but heard about it almost every time I talked with my mom. Our first visit with Carson-Speaks was on July 5th. That gave us only a day or so planning cause of July 4th. My stepdad passed on July 3rd. Seriously, though, the team at Carson-Speaks moves fast. We did the regular meet with the funeral home appointment. Arrangements and settings were explained, and selected. No funeral home appointment is joyous or uplifting, even though they call it a celebration. It's really not a celebration, but I appreciate the selling point. The fact that they are selling something was subliminal, and not noticed with our first funeral director. Our first funeral director did a great job. We appointed a celebrant cause there is no religious affiliation. They gave us a choice of poems, 10 pages of poems, one of which was selected to be printed in the program. We went through over 200 poems on July 5th, and returned to Carson-Speaks the 6th with our selection. On the 6th, we met with the appointed celebrant, for more than 2 hours. My stepdad was a war hero, and it was a full military honors funeral. A special award is given in his honor. The first one was presented to us at the funeral, by a speaker I set up and arranged. The connections went smooth, and I was pleased. On July 6th, we had a different funeral director, who reminded me of a salesman. He was okay, but his personality and energy level seemed high strung and inaccurate. But everyone has different personalities. On the day of the funeral, it went smooth, except for one thing that was never explained to us: a picture on the program was missing. When we picked up the flowers and pictures and picture boards I had made on July 6th yesterday,, our easels were missing from our pictures. It was questioned then, about the lack of a picture on the fold out. It was suggested that this be explained to other customers. That's my main complaint. The rest was really nice, with full military honors at the grave site. They thanked us for selecting "Carson-Speaks for our time of need" after the military honors...It's okay, for a selling point. They gave us a flag cover, shell casings, and it was a very honorable event. I would use them again, hopefully not soon. I will request a picture on the program. The programs appear vacant. They provided us thank you notes, which is going to keep me busy today, so I need to get off of Yelp and get started.

We schedule our meeting with Dawn to meet with the Director/Owner, Mr. DiMond. Upon our meeting he…read morewas very clear in the pre-need services we were looking for. I can say that here that meets their mission. He provided a breakdown of the cost of direct cremation, which by far is the most economical (affordable) cost in the entire metro. Their services are the same as others, simply meeting the needs of the community of which the business resides. Upon my research of other funeral and cremation businesses, where the line items are the same, it's just location and not necessarily the quality. Just my opinion.

What a wonderful memorial! Golden Gate did a PHENOMENAL job honoring my brother with the most…read morepeaceful and respectful home going service. You would've thought they knew him personally due to the care and attention that was given to his family. They were so flexible and affordable. We highly recommend their service.