When Cameron Guest stepped away from his position as a running back at McMaster University, it wasn’t due to injury, lack of opportunity, or waning ambition. In 2021, Guest was on a clear athletic trajectory with the drive and discipline to pursue professional football. But a sudden shift at home changed everything: his father was diagnosed with multiple forms of cancer.
His father owned C&L Cemetery Lettering Inc., a mobile headstone engraving business known among Southwestern Ontario cemeteries for its precise craftsmanship and personal service. As his father’s health deteriorated, Guest reassessed his priorities. Football — once central — no longer outranked what mattered most.
“I realized my family needed me more than the game did,” Guest said. “My dad and I had a strong mutual respect. Taking over the work felt like the right decision.”
Guest learned the trade hands-on, one monument and one inscription at a time. The work required patience, technical understanding, and the ability to interact with families in emotionally heightened moments. What began as necessity soon became a mission: to not only continue his father’s work, but to expand and modernize it.
Building a Local Manufacturing-Based Monument Business
After operating the mobile engraving service for a year, Guest and his mother decided to take a larger step. In October 2023, they opened Forest City Memorials, a full-service monument company in London, Ontario.
Unlike many companies in the sector — which often act as intermediaries between cemeteries and large regional engravers — Forest City Memorials manufactures and engraves its monuments locally.
This approach offers several strategic advantages:
- Greater personalization and design flexibility
- Faster turnaround time
- Direct communication between the family and the engraver
- Transparent pricing without cemetery markups
“Most families don’t realize they can work directly with the monument maker,” Guest said. “We wanted to eliminate the stress that can come from a confusing or impersonal process. Our goal is to make this experience meaningful, not transactional.”
The business currently employs a small team of four and continues to invest in equipment, training, and suppliers to scale responsibly while maintaining craftsmanship standards.
Restoration and Preservation Are Key Growth Areas
While custom monument creation is the core offering, restoration services — including cleaning, re-engraving, and inscription sealing — have become a fast-growing area of the business. In many older cemeteries, time and weather can fade or erode lettering to the point where names and dates are difficult to read.
A recent image circulated by the company shows Guest performing detailed re-engraving work on-site using specialized sandblasting equipment. The restoration process requires careful execution to preserve the original stone and character.
This aspect of the business aligns closely with Guest’s long-term vision:
“Our mission is to make cemeteries beautiful again. We want to preserve history, not let it fade away.”
The ability to restore rather than replace provides families with a cost-effective and heritage-respecting alternative — a differentiator in a sensitive and traditionally under-innovated sector.
Compassion as a Strategic Business Value
Forest City Memorials’ business model is not solely defined by production. Guest emphasizes relationship-building and emotional awareness as central components of how the company operates.
“We spend time with families. We hear stories. Sometimes we laugh with them, sometimes we cry with them,” Guest said. “We guide them through one of the hardest experiences they’ll face. That’s not something you can rush.”
This approach has contributed to the company’s early success. Most new business comes from word-of-mouth referrals — a strong indicator of trust in a field where reputation matters more than advertising.
Families frequently return after initial service, sometimes just to visit the showroom and connect. For Guest, those moments serve as validation.
Carrying Legacy into the Future
Guest sees Forest City Memorials as both a continuation and an evolution of his father’s work. Where the original business operated from a mobile unit, the new company provides a stable local hub for craftsmanship, community engagement, and memorial education.
“What my dad started has become something that touches the wider community,” Guest said. “We’re building something lasting — and doing it here in London.”
As local manufacturing trends continue to gain traction across industries, Forest City Memorials is positioned as a notable example of how personal legacy, community need, and business strategy can align to create meaningful economic impact.
