By Thomas A. Parmalee
For cemetery professionals, few challenges are more fundamental — or more consequential —than knowing exactly who is buried where, who owns each space and whether the records in the office actually match what is on the ground.
Yet for many cemeteries, that information remains spread across decades of ledgers, index cards, deeds, hand-drawn maps and institutional knowledge.
Tendmory co-founder Yan Khachko says that disconnect is what first drew him into deathcare. His background is rooted in data, while his co-founder brought firsthand experience from working within the industry. Together, they saw an opportunity to tackle one of the cemetery profession’s persistent challenges: turning fragmented historical records into a usable, searchable system without forcing cemeteries to completely change the way they operate.
Tendmory’s approach goes beyond simply digitizing records. The platform connects burial records to interactive maps and incorporates plot sales, deeds, interments, family communication, document management and public grave searches. The company also offers on-site digitization, including photographing monuments, scanning historical documents and, where appropriate, using drone mapping and ground-penetrating radar to reconcile what the records say with what is actually beneath the ground.
CemeteryVision.com recently reached out to Khachko to glean some of his insights into the vulnerabilities surrounding cemetery records, what the digitization process often reveals, why cemetery software should adapt to an operator’s and more.
Tell us about your background and what brought you into the deathcare industry.
Deathcare wasn’t a plan. I came to it from the data side, while my co-founder comes from inside the industry and knows firsthand how cemeteries and funeral homes actually operate day to day. Together we saw an industry that holds some of the most important records a community has, and often keeps them in the most fragile form possible. That mismatch pulled me in, and having someone who’d lived those problems meant we built for how the work really happens, not how outsiders imagine it.
What was the original idea behind Tendmory? What problem did you see?
The original idea was simple: a cemetery’s records are its most valuable asset, and in most places they’re at risk. They sit in ledgers, index cards and one long-serving employee’s head. We wanted to get those records into a system that’s accurate, searchable and connected to the map, and then build the day-to-day operations on top of that: sales, deeds, interments, family communication. The opportunity had two sides. Most existing software assumed the data was already clean and digital, and in reality, it almost never is. And pricing didn’t fit the market. Small and mid-sized cemeteries were priced out entirely, while larger operators were paying far more than the value they got back. We wanted to build something that’s fairly priced for everyone, from a volunteer-run historic cemetery to a multi-location operator.
Was there a particular experience that made you think “there has to be a better way”?
It was personal. When my family needed documents from a cemetery, I saw firsthand how hard it was to get even basic information.
What surprised you most about how records were being managed?
How much depends on memory. We regularly meet cemeteries where one person knows which ledger is right when two disagree, or where the “map” is a hand-drawn sheet updated in pencil. Also, how often records from different eras contradict each other: a burial register, a plot card and the physical headstone can tell three different stories about the same grave.
What did you believe existing deathcare software was getting wrong?
Three things. First, it treats data migration as the customer’s problem, so the software is only as good as records nobody has had time to fix. Second, it’s rigid: if your process doesn’t match the vendor’s, you change your process. We customize for each client, often within a day. Third, it’s siloed. Funeral home, crematory and cemetery each have their own system, and the family falls through the gaps between them.
Walk a cemetery owner through what Tendmory lets them do.
Every grave, owner and interment lives in one record, tied to an interactive map. Staff can find any plot in seconds, see what’s available and sell it. The system generates deeds and transfers of ownership. Families can search online through a public grave search on the cemetery’s website, order care and see everything in their Family Portal. There’s a CRM for family communication, document generation with e-signature, reporting, and a full history of changes, so any edit can be rolled back. And it’s configured to how that cemetery actually works, not the other way around.
What are the biggest risks for a cemetery still relying on paper and institutional knowledge?
Loss, errors and dependence on individuals. A fire, flood or water leak can erase a century of records. Paper systems make double-selling a plot or burying in the wrong space much more likely. And when the one person who “just knows” retires, that knowledge leaves with them. There’s also a quieter risk: families expect to search online, and a cemetery that can’t answer basic questions quickly loses trust.
What do you find when you help a cemetery digitize ledgers, cards, deeds and maps?
Almost always, discrepancies. Plots marked sold with no owner on record, burials with no matching headstone, headstones with no matching burial, sections where the map doesn’t match the ground. We photograph every monument and scan every document, often with drone mapping on top, and then reconcile everything into one record per grave. For many cemeteries it’s the first time they see their full inventory in one place, including available spaces they didn’t know they had.
Can you share a particularly interesting or troubling discovery you made while working on digitization?
Across projects, the most common troubling finding is how much has already been lost: pages that are unreadable, sections where records simply stop in a certain year, and monuments marked unstable that nobody has the budget to repair.
What problems can ground penetrating radar uncover that existing records can’t?
Ground-penetrating radar shows what’s actually in the ground, not what the paper says. It can find unmarked graves, confirm whether a “vacant” space is really vacant, reveal burials outside mapped boundaries, and help define section layouts where the original plan is lost. It’s especially valuable before selling spaces in older sections, or when a cemetery wants to expand and needs to be sure it isn’t disturbing anyone.
Do you have some advice to share for a cemetery that keeps putting off digitizing?
Start small and start now. You don’t have to do everything at once. Pick one section, or just the burial register. The cost of waiting only goes up: records deteriorate, and the people who can interpret them retire. Also, you don’t have to do it yourself. That’s exactly the work we take off a cemetery’s plate.
Why connect funeral homes, crematories and cemeteries on one platform?
Because the family’s journey crosses all three, and every handoff is a place where information gets retyped, delayed or lost. On one platform, the case moves with the family. For funeral homes, we offer case management from first call: intake forms, a public arrangement page, authorizations with e-signature, staff reminders and follow-ups, and a live view of crematory and cemetery scheduling. For crematories, we add chain-of-custody tracking and the regulatory paperwork.
How can funeral homes improve the family’s experience from first call to final disposition?
By asking families for information once. They fill in forms online at their own pace and sign digitally, instead of repeating details on the phone and on paper. Staff get automatic reminders, so nothing slips. The family gets clear updates on where things stand, and at the end there’s a memorial page they can return to. The goal is that the family feels looked after, not processed.
Will the separation between funeral home, crematory and cemetery software disappear?
Yes, I think it will, though gradually. Families already see it as one experience. And consolidation in the industry means more operators run all three. Separate systems made sense when software was limited. Now they mainly create duplicate data entry and gaps. There will always be specialized workflows, but I think they’ll live on shared data, not in separate silos.
What should cemetery managers do today to keep records usable 20, 50 or 100 years from now?
Digitize the originals, and keep the scans alongside the structured data, not instead of it. Use open, exportable formats, so you’re never locked into one vendor. Keep backups in more than one place. Link every record to a physical location on a map. And document your conventions, meaning what abbreviations and codes mean, because that’s exactly the knowledge that disappears first.
Where do you ultimately see the company going?
We see Tendmory as the place where the memory of a person is kept and cared for, not just recorded. That’s why we built Tendmory Care: families, including those who live far away, can order grave cleaning, restoration, new lettering or even a full headstone rebuild through local craftspeople, with a share of revenue going back to the cemetery. Memorial pages can crowdfund restoration of neglected monuments. Long term, we want to connect the whole deathcare ecosystem, with families at the center and cemeteries financially stronger for it.
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