A new man is calling the shots at one of the most notorious cemeteries in our area.
Funeral Director William Harris just bought Oak Grove Cemetery in North St. Louis County, and with the title, he's inheriting years of neglect and complaints.
Harris spoke exclusively with NewsChannel 5 on Your Side's Mike Rush.
Harris said it's his mission to restore the things Oak Grove has been lacking for a long time, including dignity and respect.
And his reason for doing it is personal.
Harris vows to take on every inch of neglect, one eyesore after the other.
In buying the Oak Grove Cemetery for $625,000, the longtime St. Louis funeral director, with more than 30 years of experience, may be embarking on the greatest challenge of his career. So why do it? The short answer, “To try to make it right,” he said.
And there's a lot wrong, it took years of mismanagement to bring Oak Grove to its knees and it took a lawsuit the attorney general filed against the former owner, Marilyn Stanza, to get her to sell it.
Nearly 200 people complained to the state about the bad conditions throughout the cemetery and mausoleum, exorbitant fees for moving loved ones to more suitable locations, and delivery delays, sometimes for years, for purchased burial markers.
“There was a headstone company that came in on Friday to let me know that they do have several orders that are ready to be delivered, but they never could get on the same page with the previous owner,” said Harris.
The sale was final last week and work is already underway.
One of the highest priorities is restoring the mausoleum to its original glory and that means fixing leaks in the roof and restoring electricity which hasn't been there for a very long time in the final resting place for about 4000 people.
The roads are high on Harris' list as well.
“As we speak now, right now, I'm waiting on the paving company to get here to go back over what needs to be done and addressed first,” he said.
The cemetery will, of course, compliment Harris' funeral home, but he says this project is much more than just business.
“I have family members buried here, I have family members entombed here,” he said.
Perhaps demonstrating how committed Harris says he is to Oak Grove, he says he plans to eventually move his parents, who are buried elsewhere, to Oak Grove.
Harris says he does plan to honor pre-paid funeral arrangements people have made with the previous owner.
