Mission Park Funeral Chapels and Cemetery Dominion

Beautifully maintained cemetery. Landscaped beautifully, everything kept up to date, and friendly staff. Grandmother has been buried here for many years along with family friends and I appreciate how well maintained it is. As for the funeral services, we have had no problem with them. Not to discount the other reviews at all, however, just based on our experience with the staff, everything went forward very easily and they handled everything correctly. I’ve also seen numerous news articles about the owner’s somewhat shady dealings with the Texas Cemetery Commission (she is the head and apparently engaged in decisions that helped her cemetery business), however, my experience here, just based off of the funeral, burial services and ground maintenance has been stellar.

I wanted to share my experience throughout the funeral process for my father. From the beginning, I had no complaints—everyone was incredibly kind and compassionate during a very difficult time, for which I’m grateful. Now, five years later, I feel the need to share a concern in hopes that it might help prevent others from having a similar experience. When we selected my father’s burial plot, we chose a spot toward the back of the cemetery. It felt more private and peaceful, with a nice view of the water. At the time, we were told this was a newer section, which explained the lack of grass—but we were assured that, over time, it would become green and well-maintained like the front areas. Unfortunately, that has not happened. Today, the area looks even worse than it did five years ago—barren, neglected, and forgotten. Fake flowers from every holiday imaginable—Christmas, Fourth of July, Easter—were scattered around. Dead flowers that appeared to have been left for weeks remained untouched, along with trash, including water bottles buried in mud and grass. On what would have been my father’s birthday, instead of simply honoring him, I found myself picking up trash to try to make his resting place look presentable. While I was there, I spoke to another visitor who was watering the grass herself (Grass she bought and planted). She told me that she and several other families have been complaining about the poor maintenance in this area for some time. Some have even brought their own brooms to sweep away dirt and pull weeds. She was told—just as I was later told—that the reason there’s no grass is due to the surrounding tree line. This was never mentioned to us when we selected the plot, and had we known, we may have chosen a different location. I stopped by the office and spoke with the manager, who was kind and understanding. However, he told me I should call ahead before visiting so he could make sure the area was cleaned up in advance. That didn’t sit well with me. This is a cemetery—it should be maintained with dignity and care at all times, not just when someone is expected to visit. This is my father’s final resting place, and in some ways, I feel like I let him down. I respectfully disagree that the tree line alone prevents grass from growing—and even if it does, there are solutions like turf that could be considered. At the very least, the old flowers and debris should be regularly removed. The purpose of this review isn’t to place blame, but to urge the cemetery’s management to reconsider how the back areas are maintained. What’s in place now is not only disappointing—it’s deeply hurtful to the many families who trusted this space to honor their loved ones.

Desecration of grave/possible grave robbers. We buried a family member one day, the next day the flower arrangement on top of the grave was about 90% gone. Mission Park Dominion stated that deer had eaten the flowers. How would they know? If they know that why don’t they have deer fencing or other protective measures? Our suspicion is someone took the flowers. Only the expensive flowers were missing and were carefully pulled from their foam base. Not deer. Only the leafy greens of the arrangement remained. Mission Park should have warned us of “deer” or potential grave robbers so we could have planned the service for such potential threats. For such an expensive cemetery in a prominent area of San Antonio, Mission Park should be better managed and more conscious of communicating to the bereaved of the dangers and risks of their cemetery that evidently lacks strong security against deer and trespassers.

I’ve been hesitant to leave a review for Mission Park Dominium since my mom will be buried there on day she will be alongside my daddy, he was buried on March 3, 2025. Everything was prearranged so that my mom or dad whomever passed first wouldn’t have to deal with the difficulties of picking a casket picking the flowers and so on. John Trevino was the director that spoke with us, my mom, myself and 2 brothers went for the finalization of the arrangement. John Trevino assured me that everything would be as my dad had asked for in the pre-arrangements. John Trevino did say he would not be there on that morning due to another commitment that the assistant directors would be there to make sure all went as planned. On the morning of the service the graveside had not been dug up until the last minute. The 2 directors arrived late with my dad casket, no skirt was placed around the casket and it was unsteady. I was very disappointed and sad my dad wishes for a peaceful service was not to his wishes. Our Family viewing was cut short because they were late getting there, we didn’t get our special time with him before guest started arriving. The directors stood there in the back with no sense of guidance. The spray of red roses that my dad so loved were not on his casket, no boutonnieres for the Pallbearers either The sound system was not working properly and the Guest book and symptoms cards arrive late. I had to direct the Mariachi’s to where they needed to stand so that when the casket came out, they could start playing. At the gravesite, no direction was offered by the two directors. There was no boutonnieres to place on the casket and no spray of red roses. The employees hovering over the guest, waiting to lower the casket. One of the directors was sitting on a headstone, disregarding any respect for that headstone and that family. I pray that when it comes time to lay my mom to rest, that these things don’t happen. My mom was told by John Trevino that she would be receiving a refund for police officer escorts that where not needed and since they did not provide the spray of rose and boutonnières and the skirt to cover the lift she was supposed to get credit on all that. Instead she was told she needed to pay $180. to release the workorder to get my dad’s DOD etched on the headstone. My mom told the Director Mario Perez, I will pay you all the amount due, because I don’t want to have this memory of his DOD not engraved because of $180.00 Signed by a Sad and still disappointed daughter!!

We are deeply disappointed with our experience at Mission, particularly during a period that should have been handled with the utmost sensitivity and professionalism. After the passing of my grandfather in April 2023, my grandmother purchased a burial plot from them, which began a series of frustrating interactions. The initial communication with Ray was unnecessarily drawn out, taking weeks just to secure an appointment. Despite the delay, we tried to be understanding, but the service did not improve. Almost a year has passed, and my grandmother has yet to receive the certificate of ownership for the plots she paid for. Despite multiple attempts to resolve this issue, Ray’s response has consistently been dismissive, telling us that “he doesn’t handle that” without guiding us to someone who does. Update: My grandmother is finally picking up her certificate today, after almost a year of continual follow-ups. It’s disheartening that it only took three days to resolve once we escalated the issue significantly. Why must someone go to such great lengths to receive basic customer service? This isn’t the way to treat people. Additionally, I originally posted a review outlining these issues, but it was inexplicably deleted, which only adds to our frustration and mistrust of their operations. Given my grandmother’s long-standing ties to Mission—her brother, parents, and my grandfather’s parents are all buried there—it is heartbreaking to see her treated with such disregard. I urge potential customers to consider this review carefully; the distress and inconvenience we have experienced here are things no grieving family should have to face.