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‘Respectful remembrance’ Westboro company pioneers ongoing care of grave sites
By Daniel DeMaina
SPECIAL TO THE TELEGRAM & GAZETTE
Philip G. Haddad Jr., president and founder of Westland Services Corp., and his daughter, Stephanie J. Haddad, visit one of the grave sites the company maintains in Worcester’s Hope Cemetery.
(T&G Staff/BETTY JENEWIN)Enlarge photo
WESTBORO — Philip G. Haddad Jr. walks into the conference room and places a cardinal Beanie Baby on the table to talk about his business. He tells this story:
A man in Ludlow had died, and Mr. Haddad met with his wife about taking care of his grave site. She told Mr. Haddad how her husband used to sit on the front porch listening to the cardinals sing, whistling back to birds and finding great joy.
She wanted to know if there was a way to have a cardinal at his grave site whenever a floral arrangement was placed there by Mr. Haddad’s company, Westland Services Corp. of Westboro.
At first unsure how he could accommodate the woman’s request, Mr. Haddad spotted the cardinal Beanie Baby in a store soon after their conversation. Now twice a year, each Memorial Day and just after Thanksgiving Day, flowers are placed on the man’s grave site with a cardinal Beanie Baby in the arrangement.
Westland also sends a photo of the grave site to each of the man’s six children, along with their own cardinal Beanie Baby. The man’s wife died this past year.
“Now both graves have cardinals in their floral baskets,” said Mr. Haddad, president and founder of Westland Services.
Westland offers what Mr. Haddad calls “personalized respectful remembrance.” For a one-time fee, the company creates a contract with surviving family members under which it provides maintenance and beautification of their loved one’s grave site for 25 years. Westland maintains cemetery plots anywhere in the United States and Canada from its main office in Westboro.
The company now cares for thousands of grave sites and is currently negotiating with a number of major financial institutions to assume responsibility for their cemetery trusts, he said.
“In the early ’70s I noticed a trend,” said Mr. Haddad, who has been a licensed funeral director since 1967. “A husband who is ill dies. The wife takes care of the funeral, and about 80 percent of these wives were living in nursing homes. What bothers her the most is, ‘Who’s going to take care of my husband’s site?’ As the funeral director, I offered one woman to take care of the site for her, out of goodwill. Soon, one site grew to 23 — I couldn’t say no, and I wouldn’t take money.”
With the number of requests becoming too much for one man to handle, Mr. Haddad began researching the idea of turning his goodwill gesture into its own business. He said 17,000 seniors, ages 60 to 65, were surveyed about their five major concerns. Health and financial security was their biggest concern, and death, their second.
The third was who would care for their grave site, he said.
Mr. Haddad views Westland’s service in the same category as prepaying for a monument or a casket — preparations that, once taken care of, help give people peace of mind.
Westland offers four basic plans that can be tailored to a family’s specific requests, and Mr. Haddad pointed out that “very few contracts are the same.” Prices range from $3,900 to $13,900, based on the frequency of maintenance and the services a family wants at the grave site. Mr. Haddad said the $13,900 plan cost $25,000 when the business first started in 1987.
The increased volume of business and the 15-office national network Westland has established to maintain cemetery plots have allowed prices to fall, he said. Money is held in interest-bearing trust accounts.
When Westland first begins caring for a site, a representative visits it to get a sense of the environment and what could affect it, Mr. Haddad said. The company considers how much sun the gravestone will be subject to and in what direction it is facing. A horticulturist lays out a plan for the site, based on the environment and with the family’s approval, he said.
The service is capped twice a year, with Memorial Day and a winter basket placed just after Thanksgiving. Workers go to the site about a month before Memorial Day to clean up, scrub the monument to remove moss or bird droppings, and to fertilize the flower bed. One week before Memorial Day, Westland plants flowers at the site. The flowers are maintained on a regular basis, watered and pinched back so they remain fresh and alive into the colder nights of September and October.
Then, in the weeks around Thanksgiving, a winter basket is prepared and placed at the site.
 Each site’s care is tailored to the family’s wishes — an expectation that can produce some surprises. About eight years ago, Mr. Haddad recalled, he got a call on a Friday afternoon from the head of trust development at a Boston law firm. The man asked if they could meet on the following Monday, and Mr. Haddad agreed.
On that day, Mr. Haddad was brought to a great mausoleum and asked to restore its structural integrity. They drew up a contract that included weekly maintenance, and Westland provided the service for eight years without Mr. Haddad ever meeting the family.
Then, he was asked to meet again at the mausoleum, and there the family asked him if Westland could provide daily maintenance. Mr. Haddad stressed that it would mean only coming by for 10 minutes a day, and there probably wouldn’t be much to do every day. The family members insisted they wanted daily maintenance, so calculating the costs of such a labor intensive job, Mr. Haddad drew up a new contract for $125,000, which the family signed.
For Mr. Haddad, the focus isn’t on how big the job is, but how to provide personalized, detailed service that puts a family at ease. “This past Sunday, I got a concerned call at 8:30 a.m. from a client,” he said. “I called back the next morning at 8:45. Molds were growing on top of the gravestone’s saddle. I explained that the molds would be cleaned in the spring, since it wouldn’t do much good to remove them now. She just appreciated the president of the company calling her back right away.”
That client, Kathleen O’Shea, visits her sister’s grave site in Lynnfield several times a week. Ms. O’Shea was the youngest in her family, and there was a large age gap between her and her sister. Their mother was sick early in Ms. O’Shea’s life, and she said her sister played a great role in raising and caring for her.
“I wanted my sister’s grave to be as perfect as possible,” she said. “A grave is a memorial to any person, and she’s an extra special person.” Looking through the yellow pages after her sister’s death, Ms. O’Shea couldn’t find anything. A trust company told her about Westland, and she said she feels “truly blessed to have found them.”
“What makes me comfortable is that if I call him up and tell him there’s a problem, he always calls me back,” Ms. O’Shea said. “This place in Lynnfield has lots of water around, and once I noticed there was a big hole under her stone. An animal had gotten under it. Phil immediately took care of it.
“I feel it’s very personal. I don’t feel as if I am a number,” she said.
Currently working with a nationwide network of local growers and craftspeople, Westland hopes to expand overseas. Mr. Haddad’s daughter, Stephanie J. Haddad, 27, has spent the past five years in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, researching the culture of remembrance in Europe and the logistics of expanding Westland’s services there.
Although no office has yet been officially opened there, Amsterdam is expected to be the international headquarters of the company for future operations in Europe and the Pacific Rim, Mr. Haddad said.
He said the company is alone in offering the service. “No one in the world does what we do; we have no competition,” he said.
Mr. Haddad said Westland has created a new service in a multibillion-dollar industry, a service that adds a personalized feeling at a time when conglomerates are buying up funeral homes and cemeteries, removing the personal aspects of the process.
He worries that many people will find themselves, after a loved one has died, wishing they had done something differently. He hopes Westland can provide those people a way to honor their loved ones the way they want to.
“We don’t want guilt to be the driving force,” he said. “We want respectful remembrance.”
© 2005 Worcester Telegram & Gazette Corp.
Westland Looks To Make Name In Erie
June 25, 2004, Erie Times News Business Section
The name on everybody’s lips is gonna be Westland.
That’s if Philip G. Haddad, Jr. has his way... New service introduces the ‘remembrance industry’
Wednesday, June 9, 2004
The Welland Tribune
Ontario, CANADA
For families who can’t get home to tend to flowers planted at the headstones of loved ones, there’s a new service available.
It may also prove invaluable to those whose mobility is limited but want to keep gravesite gardens fresh and see wreaths laid at Christmas.
“It provides a real sense of comfort for those left behind,” says J.J. Patterson and Sons Funeral Residence director Chris Chappelle.
What Chappelle is referring to, is a long-term beautification and maintenance program provided by Westland Services Corp., a U.S.-based company established 17 years ago and which over the past six weeks began making headway north of the border.
Founded in 1987, the company, through contracts which fun 25 years or longer, will wash and scrub monuments, plant flags and personally-selected flowers, weed beds and fertilize soils to individually tailored maintenance agreements.
Agreements can call for weekly and biweekly monitoring, or just about any routine schedule and allowable under cemetery rules.
“The services can almost be considered an essential service,” said Chappelle, from whose funeral home Westland programs can be arranged.
Survivors who opt into Westland’s program receive no less than two color photographs each year, ensuring that the gravesites of loved ones are being well tended.
“What we’ve created here is the remembrance industry,” said company founder and president Philip Haddad, Jr., who has been touring the area to promote his business.
Westland’s services for a 25-year maintenance period start at $4,000 and can run upwards to $13,000.
All monies are held in interest-yielding trust accounts.
Westland, Haddad stressed, is a privately-held company – not a chain.
That it has been so widely accepted said Chappelle, demonstrates the need for loved ones’
post- funeral care.
Jim Fyfe, Westland’s senior plan counselor for Niagara, said perhaps what the company best provides to survivors is “peace of mind”. New Company to the area provides burial plot care
Thursday, April 29, 2004
Greenville Record-Argus
A Massachusetts-based company that provides burial plot care and maintenance for thousands of clients in 21 states is bringing its services to western Pennsylvania.
“The remembrance industry comes to Greenville,” declared President and Founder of Westland Services Corporation Philip G. Haddad, Jr.
Westland provides Peace of Mind through long-term beautification and maintenance at a family’s gravesite at any location.
For a one-time cost ranging from $3,900 to $13,900, Westland will provide personalized care for a burial site for 25 years.
“What we have created is the remembrance industry,” said Haddad. “There’s no one in the country or world that do what we do,” he said.
Westland’s services include things like fertilizing the lot, planting flowers before Memorial Day and removing them in the fall, scrubbing the headstone, trimming grass or shrubs, but are catered to fit the family’s needs.
“We tailor it to their specific wishes,” said Haddad.
There are four different levels of services, The Tribute Plan, The Legacy Plan, The Executor Plan and The Trustee Plan, that range in price based on the extent and frequency of the care.
Westland sends a color photo of the site to the family twice a year to show the family the work that’s been done.
Westland has been in business for 17 years and has never had a complaint, according to Haddad.
“We give them significantly more than they pay for,” he said, adding that he’s very proud of the commitment and dedication of the company’s employees.
“Westland has no clients we only have Westland family members,” said Haddad.
“We’re concerned, dedicated and attentive to the needs of our family,” he said.
Westland is headquartered in Westborough, Mass., but has regional offices throughout the states.
William Hovis is the local representative for Westland and provides plan counseling services for those in Erie, Crawford, Mercer and Venango counties.
Hovis, a native of Greenville, has 24 years experience working in the death-care industry and works from an office in Cochranton.
“The need is tremendous in the area,” said Haddad.
According to a survey Westland conducted of 17,000 people between the ages of 60 and 65, who will take care of their grave is the third biggest concern behind health/financial concerns and death, said Haddad.
The cost of Westland’s services qualifies as a spend down for those doing Medicaid planning, and if a family enters an irrevocable burial maintenance contract before the time of the death, it can shelter those funds from being an asset available for nursing home payments.
The cost of the Westland Peace of Mind Program is a one time investment that goes into a trust and is taken out at the rate of 4 percent plus interest over the 25-year period, according to Haddad.
Westland’s Peace of Mind takes the responsibility and guilt associated with grave maintenance from the surviving family members, said Haddad.
He said family members are twice as likely to visit the site knowing that the burial plot is well maintained as they are if they are responsible for it themselves.
“People deserve to have peace of mind in their senior years,” said Haddad. “We’re very proud of what we do.” Maintenance service to be offered to Scottish Rite families
August 2002
By Robin Robinson
The Northern Light
When Philip G. Haddad Jr. was a boy, he would accompany his father to the cemetery every Sunday and wait while his father paid his respects to his deceased parents. "Someday, you will appreciate how important it is to honor the dead," his father said to him then.
At 11, he probably did not give that idea much thought, but later in life Haddad took that concept and turned it into an innovative and successful business. The former funeral director is president and CEO of Westland Services Corporation of Westborough, MA. The company provides grave site maintenance for a period of 25 years or longer anywhere in the country at a one-time cost.
 Following in his father's ideological footsteps, Haddad believes, "A life worth living is a life worth remembering." It is his personal and professional motto. He has also passed the concept on to his two children, Stephanie, 25, and David, 23, who work with him at Westland. A member of Athelstan Lodge, Brother Haddad lives with his wife Carolyn in Worcester. He founded the business in 1987 in Westborough, and since, it has expanded into 21 states and 80 metro cities. Haddad predicts that the company will be nationwide in two years, with almost 400 offices. According to Haddad, Westland has been the catalyst in the creation of the "remembrance industry," not to be confused with the "death-care industry," which refers to funeral-related services. "The passing of a loved one is not an end, but a beginning," he said. "We must find an appropriate way in which to properly and respectfully remember our loved ones." Personalized care at the grave site provides that remembrance. However, for a variety of reasons, family members are often unable to attend to the grave sites. Haddad said he starting seeing the trend developing in the late 1960s. As a courtesy, Haddad, then a funeral director, volunteered to care for grave sites for his clients. Soon he was responsible for more than 20 sites. He reasoned that if this was such a major concern for his clients, it must bother many. "Fifteen years ago, no one thought of preplanning a funeral, and now it is a multibillion-dollar business," he said. "Grave site care will follow." Market research over a 10-year period showed that many people were indeed troubled over who would care for their grave site. In fact, it was number three on a list of five worries, according to Haddad.
First on the list of concerns was health and financial stability; people want to be prepared for their retirement. The second matter concerned is- sues surrounding their death; where, when, how? Third was the worry of who would care for the grave. Fourth concerned making peace with the creator and fifth was apprehension regarding materialistic affairs; will travel, owning a boat, a retirement home, be possible? Haddad's firm, the nation's only provider of personalized long-term beautification and maintenance services, uniquely addresses the need for graveside care. Maintenance involves cleaning the monument, planting flowers, caring for, cutting and removing them in the fall. Westland also in- stalls a winter basket or wreath at Thanksgiving, and sends photos to the family twice a year.
The service, called Peace of Mind Program, includes four customizable maintenance and beautification plans. All service plans carry a prorated performance guarantee in writing. The proceeds are held in a custodial ac- count at a trust department of a major financial institution to assure that funds are available throughout the term of each service plan. The one- time cost depends on the degree of care, with the minimum plan starting at $3,900 (for 25 years), or about $160 a year. Extensive plans can cost from $6,700 to $13,900 for the 25-year period and some clients have dedicated as much as $75,000 for the upkeep of family mausoleums, Haddad said. The cost is driven by the frequency of maintenance visits. Site visits can occur seasonally, monthly, biweekly, weekly, or even daily.
Some families opt for entering an "Irrevocable Burial Maintenance" con- tract for providing long-term care and maintenance of the client's burial plot. The funds used qualify as a spend down for those carrying out Medicaid planning.
Payment for Westland's Irrevocable Burial Maintenance contract constitutes a transfer for full and adequate consideration. Therefore, it is not counted as an asset available for nursing home payments (even if made within the "look-back" period).
Over the years, Haddad has found that having the grave site care actually compels those left behind to visit the grave more often.
'We have discovered that people go to the grave site twice as often when they don't have the responsibility of the maintenance and care," he said. The alleviation of guilt probably makes the cemetery a more comfort- able place to visit. Encouraged by Sovereign Grand Commander Robert 0. Ralston, who supports the innovative service, Haddad will offer The Peace of Mind program to Masons throughout the Northern Masonic Jurisdiction. Information will be sent to members within the next year.
If you are interested in learning more about the program, contact Westland Services Corp., at the Web site at wwwwestlandsweb.com or e-mail to
This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
or phone 800-622-0772.
Haddad learned firsthand how important respectful remembrance is when his father died in 1965.
'I was 19 when my father died suddenly at age 51," he said. 'It was only then that I truly realized how important respectful remembrance was for me - to live on and make him proud - as he said to me each day as he left for work."
From 1981 through 1993, Haddad was part owner of Caswell-King Funeral Homes in Worcester and Hold- en, MA. Since 1994, he has been part owner of Nordgren, Memorial Chapel in Worcester. In the early 1980s, he co-developed the "Orthodox Section" of Hope Cemetery in Worcester, for the Council of Eastern Orthodox Churches of Central Massachusetts.
Carrying on the family tradition, Haddad visits his parents' graves often to pay his respects.
He said he likes to go around dusk, and sometimes he sits and contemplates life and even asks his parents for advice. "I don't get answers, of course, but the vibrations are good," he said. Death is not the end of the road
Respectful remembrance is an essential ingredient in ones long term planning.
Our research indicates that 38-42% of seniors today, who are planning to be cremated, truly do not want to be cremated.
Rather than having the traditional funeral they truly want, seniors today often opt for cremation as a means of disposition upon death.
 This trend is emerging in today's senior population because there is no one they trust to take care of their gravesite when they've passed. STOP! and think about this for a moment! Their children reside far away. They have no children or they have no close relatives to care for their final resting place in a convenient manner.
"Who will care for my final resting place when I'm gone?" - was the 3rd major concern of the 17,000 seniors we polled in the US. A shocking response to the state of our mobile society and modern cemetery practices the trend sees no turnaround in sight - UNTIL NOW.
Westland Services now provides an acceptable alternative for seniors today. Westland Services Corporation was founded in 1987 by a former funeral director who had more private requests from loyal and trusting clients for gravesite maintenance than he could effectively handle.
Headquartered in Westborough, Massachusetts, Westland is the nation's only provider of personalized long-term beautification and maintenance services at a family's gravesite anywhere in the continental United States for a one-time cost with services provided for 25 years - longer if desired.
Westland is a great story and a wonderful solution to an otherwise disturbing national trend that is adversely affecting the happiness of seniors today.
For more information, please contact Westland Services Corporation at (800) 622 0772 or go the "Contact Us" link of this web site. Medicaid spend down product provides families "peace of mind"
WESTBOROUGH, MASSACHUSSETTS. Families may now enter into an "Irrevocable Burial Maintenance Contract" with Westland Services Corporation for the specific purpose of providing long-term care and maintenance of the client's burial plot, commencing at the time of his/her death and the funds used qualify as a spend down for those doing Medicaid planning.
Westland Services Corporation is the nation's leader in providing personalized long-term beautification and maintenance at a family's gravesite for a one-time cost, with services provided for 25 years - longer if desired.
Westland's research indicates that the third major concern of those reaching retirement age (60-65 years) is "Who will care for my final resting place when I am gone?"
Westland provides the individual with the "Peace of Mind" in knowing that his/her burial plot is going to be maintained long after his/her passing-- the responsibility and guilt of not caring for the site is now transferred to Westland.
Attorney Thomas Mullen, a Boston based elder law attorney said his firm has been referring clients to Westland for years, "He's amazing (speaking of Westland's founder Philip Haddad), he's extremely reliable".
Payment for Westland's Irrevocable Burial Maintenance Contract constitutes a transfer for full and adequate consideration and is not counted as an asset available for nursing home payments (even if made within the "look-back" period).
"With regard to Medicaid planning, Westland's product has passed our review in being a viable product to reduce one's assets in Medicaid planning," announced Attorney Chayet of The Law Offices of Susan G. Haines, P.C., Denver, Colorado.
With the addition of the services Westland provides to families, there is now another means of sheltering funds, specifically dedicated to the person requiring long-term care.
For more information, please contact Westland Services Corporation at (800) 622 0772 or go the "Contact Us" link of this web site. Prestigious Colorado Elder Law Firm Endorses Westland
March 9, 2001
DENVER, COLORADO - The Law Offices of Susan G. Haines, P.C., last week, readily endorsed Westland Services Corporation as having a "very high sense of service and commitment to its clients".
In the quarterly newsletter of the nationally influential Denver, Colorado firm, Marco D. Chayet, an attorney with the firm, stated "[we] are contacted almost daily by various [groups] in the hope that our office may consider them and their products. Very rarely will this office wholeheartedly endorse an organization and their product."
The Law Offices of Susan G. Haines is the preeminent Elder Law firm in Colorado and its principal, Ms. Susan G. Haines has pioneered and practiced in the field of elder law and is the Vice Chair of the American Bar Association Elder Law Committee. "We are happy to recommend to our clients Westland Services," said Attorney Haines.
Among the clients that use Westland's services are of those conducting financial, estate, trust, and Medicaid planning, as well as funeral pre-planning. Westland's unique services qualify as a legitimate "spend-down" for those that are doing Medicaid planning. Families may now enter into an "Irrevocable Burial Maintenance Contract" with Westland Services Corporation for the specific purpose of providing long-term care and maintenance of the client's burial plot, commencing at the time of his/her death.
"With regard to Medicaid planning, Westland's product has passed our review in being a viable product to reduce one's assets in Medicaid planning," announced Attorney Chayet.
Westland was founded in 1987 and is the nation's only provider of personalized long-term beautification and maintenance services at a family's gravesite anywhere in the United States. Westland, for a one-time cost, provides these services for 25 years longer if desired. Westland Services Corporation plans to open 380 offices throughout the country in the next 5 years.
For almost two decades, The Law Offices of Susan G. Haines has pioneered and practiced in the field of elder law. Besides being the principal shareholder in a thriving Colorado based elder law practice, Ms. Haines is also an acclaimed lecturer and speaker on various topics in elder law, speaking to diverse audiences nationwide -- www.haineselderlaw.com.
For more information, please contact Westland Services Corporation at (800) 622 0772 or go the "Contact Us" link of this web site.
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