Mesa Cemetery: A Case Study of In-ground Cremation Niches
Jill Darby 
Mesa Cemetery, located in Arizona’s Maricopa county, has been serving the community for over 125 years. The city-owned cemetery boasts beautiful grounds that are well cared for thanks to its dedicated staff.
The decision was recently made to expand the property so cremation families can have a greater variety of final resting place choices.
The Objective and Possible Solution
Part of the long-term plan is to have a large cremation garden that features flush mount, in-ground niches.
The cemetery’s grounds manager had some concerns about the durability of their existing concrete block niches and thought it would be wise to explore alternative options.
Steve Handley, owner of Handley Precast Systems, Inc, proposed an idea to make precast concrete niches.
The cemetery’s management team liked the idea and decided to create a niche garden to test the new product.
Project Overview
Handley Precast used a 4’ x 6’ mold to create multiple banks of clustered concrete niche spaces.
Each 12”x12” space has an 8’x8’ opening that will hold the cremated remains of one or two individuals.
Trigard Memorials manufactured alupanel face plates that featured the cemetery’s logo.
The covers are temporary and will be replaced with a Trigard Memorials solid bronze marker when a space is sold.
The Big Reveal
As you can see from the photographs above, the cremation niche garden looked phenomenal upon completion.
The city of Mesa’s Parks, Recreation, and Community Facilities Department couldn’t have been more pleased with how the project turned out.
They approved a plan to install more than 70 banks of in-ground niches in the cemetery’s new section.
Looking Ahead
Trigard Memorials is appreciative of the opportunity to work with Steve Handley and the staff at Mesa Cemetery.
As the cremation rate across the country continues to rise, we look forward to partnering with more cemeteries in the future.
Jill Darby
Jill is a member of the Marketing Team and copywriter for Trigard Memorials and all affiliated Greenwood Inc. companies. She grew up in the funeral industry, as her family owned funeral homes in the Midwest. After graduating from Miami University, Ohio in 2003 with a Bachelor’s degree in Business, Jill worked in sales and customer relations for a global funeral product manufacturer. Her experience also includes merchandising, cemetery operations, and aftercare. Jill and her husband, Rich enjoy spending time with family, traveling, watching college basketball, and spoiling their 5 grandchildren.
One response to “Mesa Cemetery: A Case Study of In-ground Cremation Niches”
Leave a Reply
Tuesday, May 26, 2026
Wednesday, January 28, 2026
Thursday, November 6, 2025
Rodriguez looking for a niche for my family we are 4 I’m a veteran.