For over 120 years, Lakeside Cemetery in Erie PA has been a sacred resting place for generations of Erie families—home to a national Spanish-American war hero, Capt. Charles Vernon Gridley, children gone too soon, and veterans from the Civil War through today’s conflicts. But under a for-profit ownership model, banned in states like New York, this once-revered cemetery has fallen into severe neglect.

The children’s section, in particular, is heartbreaking: ignored, and choked with weeds and felled trees. A historic structure is crumbling, and—ironically—Lake Erie is now often no longer visible from Lakeside Cemetery due to dense overgrowth and neglect.

In just over three years, Lakeside changed hands between three owners, and the cemetery has fallen into serious disrepair—characterized by overgrown grounds, scattered trash, headstones discarded next to dumpsters, mismarked burial sites, and a complete lack of transparency around ownership and upkeep.

Hundreds of families have raised concerns, only to be ignored.

In 2021, Erie News Now first reported families calling in tears over the condition of the cemetery on Memorial Day. In 2025, under new ownership, those same concerns have escalated—ending not in answers, but in violence. 

A retired U.S. Air Force service member and Gulf War veteran, who is battling stage four cancer, was violently attacked on cemetery grounds after asking why the graves hadn’t been maintained for the holiday. His question echoed frustrations shared by dozens of other families this year.

According to the veteran’s family, at least three individuals—all reportedly connected to the cemetery’s new ownership, including one woman—joined in, pinning him to the ground beside his vehicle and assaulting him. Despite his ill health, he fought back, created distance, and managed to call the police. The owner later arrived and, rather than defusing the situation, brandished a firearm.

Just a few weeks prior, on Mother’s Day, a grieving mother visiting her child’s grave was verbally berated by a worker, who called her a "d*ke" and "c*nt" because she'd parked near his maintenance truck. She called the police, yet nothing was done. 

This is not just unprofessional. It’s inhumane.

The current owners likely bought Lakeside Cemetery and Cremation Gardens Association LLC for less than the cost of a new car when the property failed to sell at an Erie County public tax auction in 2024. The cemetery was listed for just $27,349.79 in unpaid 2022 property taxes. 

Upon assuming ownership in January 2025, the new owners operate a loosely run, for-profit, poorly managed business with no experience, no formal training in cemetery operations, intermittent on-site staff, and no functional customer service.               

One of the most disturbing social media images from this year shows several headstones discarded beside a dumpster—raising urgent questions not only about mishandled tombstones, but also about the possible desecration of the graves they once marked. 

The collapse in basic burial protocol under new ownership became painfully clear to Norine Blount’s family when they discovered an unaffiliated headstone lying across her grandmother’s recent grave. The "Hollman" stone hadn’t been installed—just placed on bare earth, with no alignment, no foundation, and no explanation for why it was there, or where the grave was that it belonged to. 

This is not just neglect—it is desecration.

What’s happening at historical Lakeside is the result of profiteering, mismanagement, and a disturbing disregard for sacred ground.  What was once a place of honor has become a neglected property- sold from one private owner to the next, and treated like a mere real-estate asset over which the families of the deceased have no rights, nor are they even kept informed as to who the owners are.

Lakeside mirrors a troubling pattern across other failed for-profit cemeteries across Pennsylvania. At Oak Lawn Memorial Gardens in Gettysburg, ownership similarly changed hands between unqualified parties. Financial records disappeared, more than 700 plot purchasers were left in limbo, and the county eventually had to intervene after years of unpaid taxes. 

Under Pennsylvania law, cemeteries offering Perpetual Care are required to place at least 15 percent of each burial plot sale into a protected trust fund for essential upkeep such as mowing, trimming, and routine maintenance. Families who paid into these funds at Lakeside when they purchased plots did so under a legal promise that their loved ones’ burial sites would be maintained with dignity. Now they're left asking, where is the money?  

A cemetery is not a business venture. It is sacred ground. Lakeside must no longer be treated like a slum-lot for profit under the secrecy of private ownership.

For full story with more details, visit our website, but before you go, please sign! 

https://sites.google.com/view/restoredignitylakesidecemetery/home

We, the undersigned: 

1. Call on local and state officials to investigate not only potential financial misconduct, but also neglect, mismanagement, and damage to headstones (including those of veterans), graves, and cemetery property.

This includes potential consumer rights violations and perpetual fund mismanagement by Lakeside Cemetery and Cremation Gardens Association LLC.  If violations are found, ownership should be revoked and placed under temporary receivership, as has occurred elsewhere in Pennsylvania. 

2. Law enforcement must ensure that public access rights are clearly understood and upheld so families can visit their loved ones without fear, interference, or intimidation.

3. Erie County must pursue long-overdue reforms to prevent unqualified individuals from purchasing cemeteries in the future—through stronger licensing, oversight, and public accountability.

4. Request the Erie Cemetery Association, or other interested non profits, to consider assuming stewardship of Lakeside Cemetery and restore dignity, professionalism, and long-term care to this historic site.

Please sign and share this petition to demand accountability, protection, and respect for our loved ones’ final resting place.