Jul 23, 2026 · 23 min · 10 segments
**Behind every beautiful cemetery is a team of dedicated people committed to serving families and preserving memories.** In episode 39 of Digging Deep, GFD’s President & CEO **Heather Kiteley** is…
Christina Furtado-BurkeGuest
Heather KeightleyHostHere at GFD, we do a fair amount of research and we send out consumer surveys to sort of get a sense of what people are thinking about.
One of the things that I think is really interesting is that of our respondents, so half of them are uninterested in cemetery activities.
But we notice that that half tends to be boomers or people who are a little bit older.
And so we sort of wonder, oh, is that because they're closer to or is it because it's just a generational shift? But that millennials and younger generations are very interested in events at the cemetery.
So when we have our events, we have our Mother's Day Walk to Remember, as you mentioned, our Father's Day Classic Car Night.
Those events we seem to bring all ages, whether it's families that we've served, just members from the community coming out.
The Classic Car Show, we've had I think it was like over 120 cars come out.
But we have food vendors, food trucks come out, members of the community come out and just enjoy the night.
So we use it as exactly what it is like a park where we invite our families, but also members of the community to come in to see to kind of maybe break that stigma as well of, you know, cemeteries, scary, you know, a little bit creepy.
So let's know that it's also a warm and inviting place that they can come.
I will say for when it comes to events or interest, there is a lot of genealogy that we do out with on.
So a lot of generations that are coming to do research on their past family members and ancestors.
Here at GFD, we do a fair amount of research and we send out consumer surveys to sort of get a sense of what people are thinking about.
One of the things that I think is really interesting is that of our respondents, so half of them are uninterested in cemetery activities.
But we notice that that half tends to be boomers or people who are a little bit older.
And so we sort of wonder, oh, is that because they're closer to or is it because it's just a generational shift? But that millennials and younger generations are very interested in events at the cemetery.
So when we have our events, we have our Mother's Day Walk to Remember, as you mentioned, our Father's Day Classic Car Night.
Those events we seem to bring all ages, whether it's families that we've served, just members from the community coming out.
The Classic Car Show, we've had I think it was like over 120 cars come out.
But we have food vendors, food trucks come out, members of the community come out and just enjoy the night.
So we use it as exactly what it is like a park where we invite our families, but also members of the community to come in to see to kind of maybe break that stigma as well of, you know, cemeteries, scary, you know, a little bit creepy.
So let's know that it's also a warm and inviting place that they can come.
I will say for when it comes to events or interest, there is a lot of genealogy that we do out with on.
So a lot of generations that are coming to do research on their past family members and ancestors.
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