Burial services at Woodlawn II cemetery near Joliet on hold because of road closure

The access road into Woodlawn Memorial Park II cemetery has been blocked for weeks, putting seven burial services on hold and leaving people to improvise when visiting loved ones.

“I keep calling and calling, and they say ownership isn’t doing anything,” said John Bays, a Joliet-based real estate developer who has been trying to move a monument onto a burial site he bought for his family.

Bays said he has no idea when access will be restored to the cemetery.

Woodlawn II is located off West Jefferson Street west of Essington Road in an area just outside of Joliet city limits.

The company that owns Woodlawn Memorial Park II is doing something to restore access to the cemetery, an executive with Everstory Partners said.

But there is no timetable for when that may happen.

Lindsay Granson, senior vice president of sales and marketing for Everstory Partners, the Pennsylvania-based company that owns Woodlawn II, responded to emails seeking information about the situation but dit not return phone calls for an interview.

“We are in the assessment phase with the contractors,” Granson said regarding temporary arrangements to provide access to the cemetery while damage to a bridge is being assessed.

People with grave sites in Woodlawn II who have died since the storm damage are being interred on a temporary basis until access to the cemetery is reopened, Granson said.

“We are currently working with seven families” Granson said.

“They got all these bodies over there, and the people can’t bury them because they haven’t even moved the tree.”

—  John Bays, a Joliet-based real estate developer

Granson did not specify what arrangements have made but said Woodlawn “has the ability to temporarily inter our families until we can access their location.” He said the bodies are being interred at the nearby sister location, Woodlawn I.

Granson said Everstory is working with contractors on a “temporary solution” while damage to a bridge that provides access to Woodlawn II is being assessed. He said the company does not have a date for when that access may be provided.

The bridge was shut down “within a week of the major storm that came through the area” after damage caused by falling trees, Granson said.

Granson did not specify the time of the storm. But a storm that generated high winds and low-grade tornadoes went through a section of the West Side of Joliet that includes the cemetery on July 28.

Bays said he believes the access road has been closed at least since sometime in July, although he questioned why it has not been reopened yet.

“I could go there myself with my crews and get it open in two days,” Bays said. “This is not a big deal.”

Bays said his own situation is not urgent but noted other families are waiting on burials.

“They got all these bodies over there, and the people can’t bury them because they haven’t even moved the tree,” he said.

On Thursday, a tree was still lying over a section of road that goes over the creek and leads into the cemetery.

The bridge basically amounts to the road running over a culvert that channels a small creek underneath.

Signs and road barriers at the ornate entrance to Woodlawn II advises that access is closed.

“We are keeping people updated on our social media page,” Granson wrote. “Right now, we don’t have anything new to report until we get the temporary fix solution and then we will update our families.”