I have some relatives buried at Lakewood Memorial Park, and I got the chance to visit them…read more Lakewood Memorial Park is beautiful. It's big and open with lots of trees. All of the headstones are at ground level, so you need to know where you're going before you start looking. Fortunately, there are very helpful people in the office who can help you. My mother and I were able to locate our relatives and were happy to see that their gravesites were well maintained. I highly recommend Lakewood Memorial Park!

My Grandparents have owned plots in this cemetary for many years. My Grandfather has been resting…read morehere since 1994 and had no problems with anything relating to the funeral. They were very helpful in such a sad time. Fast Forward to March 2012 my Grandmother passes away and we get in touch with this cemetary again they get everything together for us we have the funeral and they bury her. The next day my Mother goes to the cemetary only to find out they burried her in the wrong plot! How could they put her in the wrong plot? Her headstone has been there since my Grandfathers was put out. It did not have a death year only a birth year. Then when we contacted them they acted like we were making a big deal out of nothing! I am so very upset with Mr. Orr who is the manager of this company he has not taken any responsibility for any of the mistakes he has put the blame on every one else but himself he also went as far as saying this happens every so often! How can you run a cemetary like this? That is a mistake that should NOT be made. They have taken some measures of restitution toward this mistake but no one has taken responsibility for it. Perhaps if their mother or Grandmother had been buried and then had to be dug up and burried again the next day they might be a little more sympathetic.

Beautiful, well-kept, peaceful, old, and interesting. Gorgeous grounds. Highly recommend.read more

This beautiful old cemetery is peaceful, quiet and filled with elegant grave markers.read more

Very big thank you to Salerno's galewood Funeral Home. An even bigger thank you to george and the…read morestaff! They have been very kind in dealing with my family at such a horrible time from making the arrangements to answering any questions we had and picking out the memory cards and casket. made such a difficult time for us a lot easier! The Funeral Home itself is clean and kept in very good condition with a pleasant atmosphere. God Bless you and Thank you.

Our family has used Salerno's for 20 years and previously haven't had a bad experience from what I…read moreknow. I was unhappy when my mother passed (Nov 2016) to have received an invoice for $1000 more then what I was quoted. The casket price was 2,000 despite the conversation I wanted to stay around 1,000. Both my Aunt and I had called George and my understanding was there was going to be an adjustment on the quote (500 but still it was something.) Recently, I found out my father had received the bill, and paid the full amount and there was no adjustment. That's fine and the service was okay, but don't lie to me about it, or if something comes up, inform me so I am not surprised. I will try to find someone different for our family in the future.

This is a massive cemetery with so many stories to tell. I was here for over an hour, visiting the…read moreHaymarket Martyrs' Monument, the grave of Emma Goldman, the Druid Monument and the final resting place of radio story teller Paul Harvey. It is in excellent condition though a few of the lanes could use some repaving and yes, it's super annoying that the bridge is closed for repair because it's a heck of a drive to get to the other side of the river to see the rest of the cemetery. While I was here, I spotted a herd of 7 or 8 deer including a six-point buck. They're just chilling and I hope they stay here a while as it's safe for them. (Deer love the flowers people leave on graves. It's like candy to them.) If you're here to visit family or friends, I am sorry for your loss. If you're here being a tourist as I was, please be respectful of the folks who are visiting. This is an active cemetery that still has current interments. Yield to funeral processions. [Review 20625 overall - 172 in Illinois - 1606 of 2023.]

Relatives are buried at this cemetery...But I tell ya, driving through the grounds can be extremely…read moretreacherous on your vehicle give the massive potholes and lack of cemented roadway. Not to mention when the ground is damp/wet, your car leaves the cemetery literally covered with mud at the bottom, tires, etc. It is hard to get out of your vehicle due to HUGE puddles of water.

Nice older cemetery. They sustained a lot if tree damage during the tornado in chicago. They have a…read moregorgeous marble statue that has been encased in glass or lucite container to keep it from damage. The flower carvings are beautiful. A few forgotten stones covered in vines and some surrounded by bushes. Beautiful symbolism and and epithet that said " A good time was had by all " Someone had decorated a plot for Halloween and Day of the Dead. The Hebrew Benevolent Cemetery was next door and very over grown. We weren't able to go inside.

Lovely grounds including large older trees and spring bulb flowers. I took a walk and visited…read moretoday to satisfy my curiosity about a memorial I've seen dozens of times as I rode down Irving Park on my way to the airport. I've often seen a large white statue enclosed in a glass case so today I took a walk to investigate. I found the statue with the name Raithel on one side and Sei getreu bis in den Tod or Be thou faithful undo death on the front of the monument. I'm still curious - more investigation to be done...

Sprawling cemetery with lots of interesting markers and some notables at rest here. It can be a bit…read moretricky to navigate with the general layout and the narrow paths (just enough room for one car).

Props to the cemetary office staff. You can call them to find out where anyone is buried. They will…read morethen email you a map to help you find your way. Even with a map it can be hard to find a grave you haven't been to before, though, so call em up on your cell phone, tell them what grave you see, and they'll tell you which way to walk. So polite and great, I really appreciate it. I've noticed many graves in Waldheim have pictures on them! If you don't have pictures of your ancestors, go check out their graves, it can be very rewarding.

When I came to Chicago years ago, Mt. Carmel was the cemetery I most wanted to visit (if…read moreinterested, check out my review). Following that visit, I crossed the street and entered Queen of Heaven, a more modern (consecrated in 1947) resting place consisting of 470 acres. As I've noted in other reviews, I've always been fascinated by organized crime history, and Chicago's organized crime is an integral and prominent (if often unwanted) part of that city's history. I always try to conduct myself respectfully and discreetly in cemeteries, knowing these are holy places where people come to mourn. The overwhelming majority of the "permanent residents" of Queen of Heaven were honest, hard-working people who tried their best to make their way in the world. The cemetery boasts the largest Catholic mausoleum in the world, and it's indeed an impressive structure, a work of architectural splendor. Inside, I found the vaults of Tony Accardo, perhaps the most successful and powerful Mafia boss in history; Paul Ricca; Sam Battaglia; and Fiore Buccieri. I had a camera with me but I didn't take any pictures. Why? Because there were security cameras everywhere and I didn't want anyone to misinterpret my purpose, and think I was being "disrespectful." The Chicago mob was unique in being surprisingly egalitarian, a meritocracy (a large number of its reps in top positions were Jews, Irishmen, Greeks, Bohemians, a Welshman, etc.; their abilities counted more than their ethnicity), but they were also known for a countless number of savage "hits." I didn't actually think anyone was going to take a blowtorch to me for snapping a photo of Joe Batters' private vault. Still, I wasn't about to press my luck. Outside, it was more relaxed. I found the grave of "Mad Sam" DeStefano, a figure of particular fascination for me. Physically a cross between Fred Flintstone and John Belushi, reading about some of his "antics" had caused me to laugh out loud. He forced a court hearing for a $10 traffic ticket, had himself carried into court on a stretcher, shouting through a bullhorn, "Birmingham, Alabama, here I come...We are living in a Gestapo country...Hello to all the stool pigeons in the witness quarters..." It wasn't all laughs. FBI Agent Bill Roemer called him "the worst torture-murderer in Chicago's history." When Sam's wife Anita angered him, he kidnapped a black man walking on the street at gunpoint, and forced the man to rape his wife as punishment for his wife, who now lies buried beside him. Does she rest in peace, or does she dread the thought of the coming "Day of Judgment" when the dead rise from their graves and she has to see Mad Sam's ugly face once again? Hopefully, if there is a God, He'll spare her that. Mad Sam was shotgunned to death in 1973 while sweeping out his garage. The man believed to be wielding that shotgun is buried across the street, literally a stone's throw away. Tony Spilotro, the hitman portrayed by Joe Pesci in "Casino." The man who once squeezed a man's head in a vise until the man's eyes popped out of his head in order to extract information. On "Judgement Day," will Mad Sam see him, ignore Anita, and shout out, "You, you're the dirty ______ who shot me!" In another direction is the impressive monument to James Torello. If you read "The Exorcist," Blatty quoted a surreptitiously recorded conversation where Torello described torturing a 300-pound loan shark to death: "Jackson was hung up on the meat hook. He was so heavy he bent it. He was on that thing 3 days before he croaked...We tossed water on him to give the (cattle) prod a better charge, and he's screamin'..." I'm a non-Catholic, and Yelp is not the place to argue theological issues such as faith, grace, redemption, etc. But I couldn't help thinking about such issues as I walked around this beautiful, peaceful cemetery. Did the Catholic hierarchy really think Mad Sam "made his peace" with God in the seconds before that fatal shotgun blast? He's lying in sacred, consecrated ground. Supposedly, Spilotro asked to say a prayer (and was denied) before he was beaten to death, but does that transform a serial-killing monster into someone worthy of Heaven? As another, non-Catholic example-- "Tex" Watson, Manson's chief killer, has his own prison ministry and claims to be "saved." Is he sincere? What if he is? Someone who can stick a knife 30-something times into an 8-month pregnant woman permanently severs whatever tenuous links he may still have to humanity, as far as I'm concerned, and obviates any possibility of redemption or forgiveness. To me, that's a spiritual brokenness that can never be fixed, whether it's Tex, or Charlie, or Mad Sam, or Tony the Ant. I don't mean to sound overly harsh in discussing this cemetery...other cemeteries, religious and non-sectarian alike, have evil people buried in them...but these were the thoughts occupying me as I wandered about these peaceful acres. Maybe that's the reason I still identify as an agnostic.

My Aunt died and is interned here. I am taking her death very hard and am a Practicing Catholic…read more None of the Churches I contacted have a Bereavement group! However upon researching I found out Queen of Heaven does. It's an hour from where I work which I would just afford in gas. I have to pay $30 for the book I was told. If I don't buy the Book then I can't get the help I need. There are only two months left. The woman Theresa told me get the book and do it by yourself. She didn't even suggest another meeting when the classes with start. Very unhelpful and unchristian! Is this why people are leaving the Church?

Our Mother and Father have been cared for at their passing at The Oaks Funeral Home. Our Mother…read moreover 30 years ago and most recently our Father. We were guided with care and dignity with pre preparations via a prepaid funeral service policy that made the final stage less stressful. Dignity and kindness from the entire team. At a most difficult time of our Fathers passing at 99 Years, we were grateful for the care of The Oaks staff and owners.

In my grief I could not ask for a better funeral home to guide me through some very hard decisions…read more Andrea, who had patience and kindness made things much easier than I expected. The staff at The Oak Funeral Home are all courteous professional people. We had a viewing at the Church and a Mass to follow with a private burial. From start to finish they were there guiding us and handling everything. I highly recommend this funeral home and their staff for any of your loved ones.