About Us

Restore Dignity to Lakeside Cemetery is a community-led effort advocating for the long-term preservation and responsible stewardship of historic Lakeside Cemetery. We support transitioning the cemetery from its current for-profit ownership structure to nonprofit stewardship in order to promote respectful maintenance, transparency, and accountability to the community it serves.

We are members of the local community, including friends and family of the deceased, historians, plot holders, and concerned residents from a wide range of backgrounds, united by a shared commitment to honoring those laid to rest at Lakeside.

This webpage is not a news report — it's a resource meant to help families gain clarity, understand their rights, and know what steps they can take next.

We've gathered information, personal accounts, and publicly available details in one place so families can finally see everything together and see the big picture as to what's been going on.

Lakeside Cemetery families deserve real answers — and you can now read the facts, see what families have shared, and decide for yourself what has been happening behind the cemetery gates. 

• Who owns Lakeside Cemetery? Is it a charity in need of assistance, or a privately owned for-profit business? 

• What is Lakeside Cemetery LLC.'s connection to nearby funeral home: House of Paradise Cremation & Funeral Services Inc.?

• Why are the cemetery grounds not being properly cared for? 

• Where is the Perpetual Care (trust) fund money intended to maintain the grounds?

• Why are so many families reporting difficulty having their contracts honored, harassment, and neglect?

• Has the news reported on this?

• What can you do?

How To Contact Us Directly:

📧 Email: SaveLakesideCemetery@gmail.com

👍 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/p/Restore-Dignity-Lakeside-Cemetery-Erie-PA-61576841525824/

Who "Owns" The Dead?

Most Americans agree that a cemetery is more than land—it is a sacred place to honor the dead, provide space for mourning, uphold cultural traditions, and safeguard the trust families place in the grounds where their loved ones are laid to rest.

At Lakeside Cemetery in Erie, Pennsylvania, that trust has been broken. Although the cemetery had been experiencing landscaping issues since 2021 and financial struggles since 2022, problems have sharply accelerated since January 2025 under new, obscured ownership. In addition to more than normal neglect of the grounds, headstones have been mishandled and misplaced, graves misidentified, and grieving families have reported harassment, threats, and even physical assaults by staff. Major religious and civic holidays have passed with no preparation of the grounds for the occasion, and staff cannot be reached for answers—including basic information about upcoming burials, plot preparations, and headstones. These failures are not only emotionally devastating; they violate legal agreements, industry standards, and the dignity owed to the dead and their families. The situation reflects what is lost when consecrated ground is treated merely as commercial real estate.

Founded in 1896, Lakeside Cemetery’s hallowed grounds are separate from the private, for-profit company that owns and operates them—Lakeside Cemetery and Cremation Gardens Association LLC—which is failing to honor its obligations, including grounds upkeep and proper management of perpetual-care funds, 15% of every plot sale intended for grounds maintenance. The LLC has not filed required annual financial statements with Erie County Orphans’ Court or the Department of State in nearly a decade, raising serious questions about whether these funds, which belong to a trust for the cemetery and plot holders, have been misused, mismanaged, or depleted—especially given 2022 tax defaults under prior LLC. ownership. 

Rather than working collaboratively with families and plot holders—most of whom were unaware that a change in ownership had taken place—multiple families have reported that the LLC’s seemingly unqualified staff fail to perform essential duties and have, at times, interfered with families’ ability to mourn in a respectful environment. 

According to one family’s account, on Mother’s Day 2025 a grieving mother was verbally abused with misogynistic and homophobic slurs after parking near a maintenance worker’s truck while visiting her child’s grave. Another visitor—a 65-year-old Desert Storm veteran with end-stage cancer—reported that he was insulted and physically confronted on Memorial Day 2025 by the same worker and members of the owner’s family while honoring his military relatives. In both situations, families say Erie Police treated the cemetery as private property and did not intervene on their behalf. The mother now reports being afraid to return and is considering disinterring her child, while the veteran ultimately faced criminal charges connected to the confrontation, despite describing himself as defending against an attack.

Concerns have also been raised about primary owner Henry Earl Howze Jr., who operates the nearby House of Paradise Funeral Home. That business has faced public allegations in recent years—including claims of theft, fraud, and mishandling of remains—though these allegations have not been resolved in court. Critics argue that the staffing practices at both establishments, which rely heavily on personal associates—friends and family members—rather than trained or licensed professionals, leave the cemetery without the qualified oversight such a solemn responsibility requires. Given the severity of these reported issues, families are calling for increased state oversight and for the cemetery’s care to be placed under more reliable management.