ADDITIONAL SERVICES
In addition to design, development and installation of mausoleums, monuments and markers, Kellogg Memorials also has a number of other services that we provide our families and the communities we serve.
Kellogg Memorials, between its two locations, regularly services over 150 cemeteries throughout the central New York region with on-site engraving. During the spring, summer and fall, we have a dedicated crew that travels from cemetery to cemetery, adding final dates to existing monuments. They also, at family’s request, can add small designs on-site, additional family names and/or other inscriptions. Charges vary depending on the number and size of characters or designs to be engraved. Calling one of our offices to have one of our team take a look at your monument is a good place to start.
One thing we get asked over and over again is whether the final date to be lettered is included in the original cost of the monument. The answer is no, for a variety of reasons. Hopefully, as people tend towards purchasing their monuments before they need them (see Planning Ahead), they will live 20 years or more after that. During that time, the business they purchased from may change ownership or not even be in business anymore. So, therefore, only the lettering that was originally contracted for on the monument is included. Regardless of where your family initially purchased the monument, Kellogg Memorials’ team of professionals will be able to exactly match the style and size of lettering on your gravestone. We take great pride in our ability to tackle any project and perform the job well.
VETERANS AND CIVIC MEMORIALS
Over the years, we have been asked to design and manufacture a number of beautiful granite pieces for projects sponsored by VFW and Legion Posts, cities and villages, schools and colleges. From a college entrance sign in Oswego to a veterans monument in Parish to a Sept. 11th Memorial in Rome, we have had years of experience in developing just the right memorial for an affordable price. The other reason Kellogg Memorials stands out in the field are the resources at our fingertips. Because Rock of Ages owns its own quarries, we are able to select the finest granites so that generations to come will be able to read the names and reflect on the sacrifices or service memorialized in stone.
From consultation and fundraising through design of the memorial and installation, the team at Kellogg Memorials will be there every step of the way to ensure a successful completion of your project. We will even make recommendations for landscaping and dedication ceremonies. Whatever your vision is, call us to help turn your idea into the reality of a beautiful and lasting memorial. We would be honored to help you.
Vases, Statues, Candles, Ceramics, Bronze and More
Quite often we find that families want to remember their loved one on birthdays and anniversary dates. A great way to do that might be adding something to the gravesite. Flowers and other cemetery-approved plantings are always nice, but if your family is looking for something else, Kellogg Memorials has a number of gravestone accessory items. Granite and metallic vases, bronze flag holders for veterans, marble statues, eternal cemetery candles, porcelain/ceramic photos, bronze plaques, concrete adornments for the home or cemetery… there is something for everyone. You can talk with a member of our team to learn what is permissible in your cemetery and find the item that best conveys your remembrance of your loved one.
Memorial Benches
Benches in cemeteries are becoming increasingly popular, sometimes utilized as a headstone or as an addition to a large lot. Not only does a bench provide a place to sit and remember your loved one, but also gives you a sense of ease and comfort in spending time at the gravesite. Memorial benches are also commonly found in parks and recreation areas, as well as in people’s yards or memorial gardens. Due to the amazing durability of granite in that it lasts forever, many believe their bench purchases are money well spent. One woman we worked with wanted a memorial bench for her and her husband at the cemetery, a place that her grandkids could come and spend time. On the top of her bench, we engraved “Come, Sit… Tell Me a Story.”
Every year we have lots of requests for cleaning services. While granite lasts forever, its unpolished surfaces are prone to developing lichen and moss growth over a number of years. We generally advise families on how to do cleaning themselves, but sometimes that isn’t logistically possible because family members are out of state, or perhaps it has been so many years since a good cleaning that it’s too much to tackle. In that case, we do have some excellent industrial cleaners for granite and marble that will allow us to return the memorial to its original beauty.
Likewise, we also occasionally need to repair memorials and try to keep their structural integrity. That is particularly true of marble memorials, widely used years ago but a much softer substance than the granite we use today. Sometimes forces of nature have caused a memorial to tip to one side, or vandalism has occurred and the memorial needs to be pieced back together. Whatever the cause, Kellogg Memorials is only a phone call away from looking into the situation and offering suggestions on how to fix the problem.
Pet Memorials
When you are pet lovers like we are, it only makes sense that you would want to memorialize your best four-legged friends too. This is one of our more popular services, and we have engraved on everything from a brick paver to a natural field stone to a granite marker. There is a wide range of products designed specifically for remembrance of pets, whether you’ve had them cremated or buried. We understand your soft spot for pets, as most anyone who comes to visit our offices will attest.
Residential Lettering
Just as we do on-site cemetery lettering, we are also available to do engraving at your home or business. For some, it’s a boulder in their front yard that they want to put a house number on. Others want their last name or name of the business engraved. Not all rocks are created equal, however, and it will require a trip to your location to survey the situation before we can make recommendations. But once Ron or Jody has visited and a price is agreed upon, you will be quite pleased with the results. We once traveled 6 miles up a gnarly dirt road to reach a camp on Tug Hill for a memorial rock to be engraved.
Granite Signage
Why install a wooden or plastic sign for your place of business when you’ll have to replace it a few years down the road anyway? Kellogg Memorials offers high quality granite signage that will last forever, despite our ever-changing weather conditions in central New York. Unique and readily visible from a distance, a granite sign has many advantages over its counterparts. Call for a quote.
With more and more people choosing cremation, Kellogg Memorials has a wide selection of options for the disposition of ashes. Whether you want your ashes to be buried in a cemetery plot or have them interred in a granite memorial, there are many ways to go about it. Through Rock of Ages, we offer some beautiful columbaria – above-ground structures specifically for the inurnment of urns and/or ashes. These lockable niches are a wonderful idea, not just for urns but also any keepsakes that you’d like to leave with your loved one. We have created gardens at each of our locations in Rome and Mexico to show various cremation memorials, and we’re very proud to showcase one of the largest displays of cremation benches, boulders, monuments, bronze and columbaria in Central New York.
Many people mistakenly believe that the process of cremation is an end in itself, but it is not. It is preparation for memorialization just as traditional burial would be. If it is your intention to have your ashes scattered to the wind, at least consider the idea of having a permanent place of remembrance, a place to mark that you’ve lived.
Landscaping
Are you looking for ways to enhance your backyard or give your home more sidewalk appeal? Kellogg Memorials offers a number of different landscaping options like engraved rock boulders, granite birdbaths and fountains, granite and concrete benches, engraved garden stones and concrete statues. If you can dream it, we can make it happen!
