Powerful emotions led to shouting and tears inside the chapel at Eternal Valley Memorial Park, as about 40 people with loved ones at the Newhall cemetery aired concerns about the care of the grounds and policies they described as harassing and intrusive.
In particular, some of those with loved ones interred at Eternal Valley are objecting to management’s enforcement of rules against decorations being left on graves, and its removal of those decorations.
General Manager Noel Marin said Friday before the meeting she had met with a single client who had questions about the cemetery’s flower policy — when a crowd began to gather outside the office around noon.
Addressing the concerns prior to the meeting, Marin said the policies that Eternal Valley was enforcing had always been in place, but Marin said safety concerns and complaints from other families had prompted more vigilance among the staff.
She believed that’s why residents were considering the policy enforcement as changes, she said, before inviting in those who gathered to air their concerns inside Eternal Valley’s chapel.
She mentioned more than once to a meeting of the upset customers that Eternal Valley’s policies were spelled out in contracts they signed when their plots were purchased.
The visitors Friday also expressed anger at long-running problems with the facility’s watering systems, which staff acknowledged was a situation they were still working on during the meeting.
One of the repeated gripes was that if there was so much concern about appearances, several members of the group questioned why they were being forced to water their own plots, pull their own weeds and mow the lawn around their loved ones’ graves.
Marin said that shouldn’t be the case, and offered to help out those who weren’t able to pick up their flowers every day.
Marin also said decorations were causing concerns for other families, and not just about aesthetics, as staff members were being forced to navigate a growing number of memorials, which posed a safety risk for pallbearers.
Rosa Banuelos, who organized the original meeting, repeatedly pressed management for an answer on why she and many others were suddenly seeing their cherished gravesite decorations and photos being tossed away.
Banuelos didn’t feel as though the safety concerns were justified, saying it was very unlikely solar LED lights were causing a fire hazard in the winter, as Eternal Valley staff was claiming.
Marin said the grounds crew had photos of a recent fire caused on the grounds by the lights, adding the incident was not reported to the Fire Department because it was handled by staff on site. She did not have the specific date or photos available at Friday’s meeting.
Solar Mentors, an online solar-energy advocacy website, notes there are some potential risks involved in do-it-yourself solar LED lights, due to the batteries and wiring.
Paul Reynafarje said he and his wife, Crystal, came to Eternal Valley on Friday because the “fresh flowers only” policy is not what they were told when they purchased their plot.
The Stevenson Ranch couple lost their son, PJ Reynafarje, to a choking accident inside of Ralphs in January 2023, shortly after his fifth birthday.
Crystal said they visit regularly and they’re responsible plot owners who clean up the site on Wednesdays ahead of the Thursday lawn care that takes place, she said. She questioned why everyone should be punished by the policy.
“Also, you know, I like to decorate for him still. It makes me feel like I’m still caring for him in a way,” she said outside Eternal Valley. “So I do back-to-school decorations on his site. I put Easter eggs on his site at Easter. I put up a mini-Christmas tree every year … we have a birthday party too here, every year, and we decorate for that. So it’s just, I think it’s important for loved ones to still feel like they can care for the people in the past, especially mothers.”
Joyce Brown, who regularly visits her husband’s gravesite with her daughter, Ashley, shared frustration about the flower policy because, as several mentioned, she wanted to see the site decorated but didn’t think fresh flowers every week was feasible.
And the recent rain had helped the grass, she said. But before that the ground was so hard she had to carry a jug of water to the site to make it possible to put fresh flowers there.
“I couldn’t put anything in the ground because it was just too hard,” she said.
Large brown patches of grass developed last summer that also angered residents.
Management issued a statement in response, which Marin also mentioned Friday.
“We appreciate the concerns surrounding cemetery conditions at Eternal Valley Memorial Park and Mortuary and are diligently working to replace the irrigation system,” according to a statement shared in June from Christopher James of Services Corporation International on behalf of Eternal Valley Memorial Park. “Cemetery management is currently working with construction and system engineers to discuss maintenance requirements. We regret that our families are affected by these conditions and take full responsibility in maintaining a beautiful resting place for their loved ones.”
Marin said the facility is expected to have a contract in place to truck in water when necessary and that a longer-term fix for the facility’s watering system was about 18 months from completion.
Marin also shared a link to a document with Eternal Valley’s policies regarding decor: bit.ly/4iypQH0.
