Cemetery owner faces Michigan inquiry

I hate Forest Lawn. It is the worst cemetery in the county. I hate all of the cemeteries that only allow flat bronze markers. That is so boring and adds no character to the place. I love a cemetery with all sorts of monuments. Cemeteries are much more than a burial ground. They are art and history museums and they tell the tale of the local community.

As for the allegations...I'm not surprised. I have had a few dealings with Forest Lawn and all of them were negative.

some how the records of my parents vault were missing or we were told they did'nt buy the vaults while they were paying 35.00 a month foe all those years. and dad couldn't find his copy of what they did buy. of course they were 50 yrs. old at the time and mother was 81 when she passed. so nothing surprises me about that place. you can buy cheap flowers from the workers in the spring. thats after they collect them in nov. wash and clean them up and resale them.

They just keep coming out of the closet.What a shame.

Remember, the Nelms are the operators of New Jersey funeral homes accused of harvesting tissue from cadavers without the authorization of the survivors, and forging death certificates alleging fitness for transplant. They also own the Sugarland Cemetery and Gill Funeral Home in Daviess County.
I recall a news story recently where the deceased was unburied after several months, another of the Forestlawn violations of trust. I would avoid "Forest-pond" at all costs, even abandoning the arrangements and money.

This is only the tip of the iceberg. Props to Michigan for taking the lead in this matter. Hopefully Indiana will swiftly and surely follow, as most of the cemeteries, and therefore trust funds, are in Indiana. And good for Mr. Hamner for investigating. Forest Lawn is the largest cemetery in the Greenwood area and the way people are treated by the current management is deplorable. It's totally opposite of the former employees' genuine care for property owners. Hopefully this situation will be resolved promptly before the funds are unrecoverable.

When my mother-in-law passed away, we were told we could not have grave-side services because of work going on. There was no workers anyplace to be seen the day of her service. We suppected at the time, it was a money issue. It was a prpaid funeral and we were sure that was included, as my father-in-law passed a few years ago when the previous owners were in cotrol. We also felt that the engraving of the plaque was included, but was never mentioned to us at the time of plannig that we would have to order that service and pay extra for it. We will not bury anymore of our loved ones there.

I am a funeral director in Johnson County Indiana, and have had several run ins with Debora Nelms, Debora Johnson or whatever she calls herself on any given day. I feel very concerned of the families that have to contend with their viscousness on a daily basis. Many families have been told they do not provide the prearranged services they had paid for and need to put in additional dollars if they wish to have their funerals there. I hope our attorney general and our own prosecuting attorney for Johnson county takes a very close look at Forest Lawn. If this has happened in Michigan it could possibly be happening right here in our own back yard. Please Please Investigate these people!!

WHAT?!?!?! The Dairy Queen Hier is in trouble? I can't believe it!

And to think I just heard they were changing their slogan down there to "We treat you right"

Happy New Year Mr. Nelms. Orange I hear is your new color.

To the funeral director of Johnson County, as a licensed funeral director don't you feel that it is unethical to blast a co-professional in your own mortuary career field. AS a matter of fact this type of talk can get your own license taken away. So let see you place you ethical name out to be seen. In the possible charges NO where is Debora Nelms or Debora Johnson shown with being involved or charged. Sure you do not want to take back you words and appolgize for you comments.

A very sad situation.

I Love Cemeteries wrote:

I hate Forest Lawn. It is the worst cemetery in the county. I hate all of the cemeteries that only allow flat bronze markers. That is so boring and adds no character to the place. I love a cemetery with all sorts of monuments. Cemeteries are much more than a burial ground. They are art and history museums and they tell the tale of the local community.
As for the allegations...I'm not surprised. I have had a few dealings with Forest Lawn and all of them were negative.

I love cemeteries with scarecrows on park benches. And monuments are cool, for sure, that. Art, history and stories to tell and cemeteries, lately, seem to attract many strange and unusual birds. That's why you need the scarecrows.
Creatures of the night also love cemeteries, like bats that screech and owls that hoot.
Bronze markers are cool too, if there are flowers around them and memorials.

What concerns me about Forest Lawn is the high turn over in employees. Every time I go in that place and ask for the person who helped me before, it's the same answer "They don't work here any more." There are always so many different stressed faces. I had to deal with Debora Johnson-Nelms once and figured out real fast why everyone seemed so stressed and uptight.I don't see how any one could work there for to long. Seems to be alot of complaints. One time when I was in there, I had to wait in line for quite some time. New owners would be nice.

The name "Forest Lawn" sounds so peaceful. I'm glad it's not called "Forrest Gump."

It is a beatuiful cemetery, but unfortunatly, poor management is taking it's toll on the place. Everyone I speak with, about Forest Lawn, always has a sad story to tell about the experience they had with these people. Not professional at all.

"The Grand Rapids (Mich.) Press reported last week that the Michigan attorney general's office and other agencies contend that Robert Nelms misused more than $4.2 million intended to be held in trust for cemetery burials."

Now that's alot. How do you "misuse" $4.2 million?

Wings wrote:

"The Grand Rapids (Mich.) Press reported last week that the Michigan attorney general's office and other agencies contend that Robert Nelms misused more than $4.2 million intended to be held in trust for cemetery burials."
Now that's alot. How do you "misuse" $4.2 million?

The term "misuse" in this case simply means "to steal" what was not his.

I recently had a funeral at Forest Lawn and buried my mother there. I had the opportunity of meeting Ms. Johnson and Mr. Miller during the arrangements for my mother. I can tell you that they both treated us with nothing but professionalism and respect and made every effort to make our services at Forest Lawn as comfortable as they could be. I would HIGHLY recommend this funeral home to any friend of mine that experiences a loss of someone.

I dont think it is appropriated for people to sit here and make outlandish remarks concerning the hard working employees of that funeral home and cemetery when they are not involved in the issues that pertain to Mr. Nelms.

My son was buried at Forest Lawn in December after he suddenly passed away. Because he had a genetic disorder we did not have life insurance. The staff at Forest Lawn donated their services and met every expectation we had. It was a very difficult time for my family and friends and they treated us great.

Lemmons Family wrote:

I recently had a funeral at Forest Lawn and buried my mother there. I had the opportunity of meeting Ms. Johnson and Mr. Miller during the arrangements for my mother. I can tell you that they both treated us with nothing but professionalism and respect and made every effort to make our services at Forest Lawn as comfortable as they could be. I would HIGHLY recommend this funeral home to any friend of mine that experiences a loss of someone.
I dont think it is appropriated for people to sit here and make outlandish remarks concerning the hard working employees of that funeral home and cemetery when they are not involved in the issues that pertain to Mr. Nelms.

I buried my dad there last October. Mr. Miller was the one that handled everything though we used an outside funeral home. Mr. Miller is a extremely valued asset to Forest Lawn. He treated us with the upmost of compassion and worked with our family to give my dad a beautiful service at the cemetery. Mr. Miller stayed on top of the bronze plate order and made sure that it was placed on his grave before his birthday. He has also been there for us with any needs we have had and has addressed them in a timely manner. I wouldnt hesitate to use Forest Lawn or Mr. Miller's services again in the future. He is a man of upmost integrity and character, as are most of the folks working there.

The things that are happening in that cemetery are astoundingly bad. I have been in the business for a long time now and have heard all the horror stories of "con - artist" funeral directors ripping people off, but THESE people bring new meaning to it. They are preying on the elderly and folks that are grieving. They are ripping people off at the worst time in their lives to line their off shore accounts with Greenwoods hard earned money. In my many experiences with them I have been witness to wrongful burials, lost bodies, wrong graves dug (all the time), graves not being dug. Graves full of water. Its not just how crappy the place looks or how poorly it is ran. The scariest thing is what they are doing to people every day. For people that have just lost someone its awful, they treat everyone horribly and try to cheat everyone out of their money. They come up with stupid little rules to force people to pay ridiculous high prices then just lie to them. The State Board of Funeral Service and the Attorney General should be ashamed of themselves for letting this go on so long. They all knew what was happening. They all knew of these peoples background. What, exactly are our tax dollars doing. Oh, I know. Paying for all the money they stole!!!