Kensico Cemetery Offering options for families

When people think about planning for their futures, they focus on things like retirement or college funds. Rarely do they consider their deaths with the same attention to detail.
“It’s a huge decision,” said Rick Weber, vice president and sales manager of Kensico Cemetery in Valhalla, NY. “Planning is a really important aspect.”
Kensico, a 461-acre non-sectarian, not-for-profit membership corporation established in 1889, provides burial lots and graves and performs interments. Their mission is “to sell lots and graves to the public for the purpose of burial . . . and to maintain the grounds in memory of all those buried.” By New York State law, the cemetery is not affiliated with funeral directors or memorial dealers and does not offer their services.
The costs vary widely from a single grave at approximately $1,750 to hundreds of thousands of dollars for a mausoleum.
Weber said the cemetery offers many options, including arrangements for family plots that can include one or several separate graves that can be linked. What can be accomplished is limited only by budget constraints and cultural requirements, he said.
Purchasing a gravesite is one of the best gifts that a person can give himself or his family, Weber added.
He said often parents in their 70s with children in their 30s will make plans for themselves and the family.
“The kids just aren’t ready for it,” Weber said.
Nevertheless, thinking ahead gives family members peace of mind during one of life’s most stressful events.
Located in the township of Mount Pleasant, Westchester County, the scenic hillside cemetery is one of the most beautiful and well maintained in the United States.
Buried at Kensico are numerous international celebrities, noted authors, gifted artists and prominent business people, including Tommy Dorsey, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Ayn Rand, Frank O’Connor, Henri Bendel, Flo Ziegfeld, Lou Gehrig and Danny Kaye.
For more information, call 888-536-7426 or visit the website at www.kensico.org.