Sacramento Valley National Cemetery — Local services in Dixon

*Update: Spoke with ASHYLAY( asst director) Whom also called with a very matter of fact attitude and said “we are not required to show any policy to a customer and our services are free so we don’t have to have anything signed) She never offered an apology and actually asked if we could prove “intent” for James purposefully standing in front of us and our loved ones casket besides all the pics of his back side in front of her face. Ridiculous!

ASHYLAY said the service was free about 6 times on our convo, so I’m assuming that is her reason why we were treated so bad. Free=sub par services and bad attitudes towards grieving clients (NOT CUSTOMERS BECAUSE ITS “FREE”) Tuh. Wow

Our beloved mother grandmother Audrey Thompson was laid to rest yesterday at Sacramento Valley National Cemetery on 3/7/2023 and I have never felt so disrespected in all my days!

Upon arrival, the worker (JAMES) came forward with a very unpleasant attitude towards myself and my family, handed us the paperwork and proceeded to walk my family and I to our loved one.

James made us stand 30 feet (I have videos and pictures) from the casket and refused for us to be allowed to take pictures. When family tried to pull our cameras out from the very far distance, this gentle man proceeded to stand in front of the casket intentionally so we could not get a picture! We actually have several pictures with his back side blocking our loved ones face.

We felt rushed, disregarded, and flat out discriminated against. On a day where we are all full of grief for our loved one, we should have felt empathy, compassion, but none of that was offered.

I am a business owner in the Bay Area with a very large connection to the Bay Area community (as seen on nbc Bay Area for our community contributions) and we plan to make the treatment we experienced KNOWN! We have also been speaking with a civil attorney to determine how to proceed forward. We will not allow this treatment and I will be vocal about this until we are offered at minimum an apology.

After the ceremony my grandfathers headstone was damaged by the tractor. We are...

I am very appreciative of the service the cemetary provides for veterans and their families. We recently had a service there for my dad. Overall they did a fantastic job but we did have a few glitches. Until the day of the service we were not clear on what the agenda of the service would be, aside from the military doing the first part of the service and then the remaining time being used by family and clergy. We were not infomed until imediately before the service as to how things would go, and then not one of the 3 of us present got the instructions correct. This caused us to have less time at the service. In the office my mom had to sign forms and discuss with the cemetary rep what exactly would go on the headstone- which we thought we had already figured out but apparently there were additional limitations. Not a good time to deal with this! The rep did not make it clear that we were to go immediately to the place where the service was being held (ahead of the guests) to set up the items we brought, and to get into our places. It turned out fine but we were rushed and the rep seemed a little frustrated. For the cemetary... can't you please make this all more clear for the families involved in advance of the ceremony? It could have gone smoothly if we had had all the information up front. Maybe send the families an email with all of the information in it, or have a representative of the family come to the office in advance of the day of the service to explain things instead of the day of the service. And can't the headstone words be arranged well before the day of the service? Don't get me wrong, they did a GREAT job and it was beautiful. We are extremely grateful. However, there was unnecessary stress as a result of poor and last minute communication. The families are grieving. They don't want to fill out forms and make last minute decisions. Please just clarify everything in advance. I think it would ease frustration on behalf of the familes and the...

My father's committal ceremony and burial happened at the cemetery yesterday. I had so many questions leading up to the day and the staff were always so patient with me. Terry, who usually works out of Riverside, helped us with the paperwork and led the ceremony--he was so professional and kind. We were treated with such professionalism and respect from the staff. The military honors were so moving and meaningful. I didn't expect a gun salute--gosh, dad would have been so honored. Everything was just so perfect. As promised, when we returned at 4pm my dad had been laid to rest in a beautiful spot. It helps a little to know that he is being taken care of in such a lovely place, and since I live in Woodland he's still close by. Thank you so much to all of the staff at the Sacramento Valley National Cemetery. I wish I didn't have to use your services, but given the circumstances I'm so glad to leave my dad in your care. Thank you.

Tips: if you can, I recommend visiting the cemetery before your loved one's service. I thought it would be easy to make decisions for the monument but they had more options than I was expecting. I made such an important decision so quickly and with little to reference--I hope I won't regret what we chose. Also, if you're handling arrangements yourself, bring two small floral arrangements for an urn committal and no...