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NEBRASKA, CANADA, NEVADA, ILLINOIS, JAKARTA, INDIA, OHIO,
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cemeterygen-@yahoo.com
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Feb 21, 2009 21:15 PST
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NEBRASKA, CANADA, NEVADA, ILLINOIS, JAKARTA, INDIA, OHIO
February 21, 2009
Cemetery Genealogy News
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NEBRASKA
A sacred duty
http://www.nptelegraph.com/articles/2009/02/15/news/50001594.txt
Published: Sunday, February 15, 2009 4:14 AM CST
The North Platte Telegraph
MAXWELL - The long rows of white stones bearing the names of American heroes laid to rest at Ft. McPherson National Cemetery will be under the watch of a new cemetery director beginning today.
According to the Department of Veterans Affairs, Douglas Ledbetter, of Dayton, Ohio, will be the cemetery's new director after graduating from the VA's national cemetery director intern program on Feb. 6. He spent a year training in the program in St. Louis before graduating in the nation's capital last week.
Caring for America's national cemeteries and honoring this country's war dead and veterans who have passed on is one of the VA's top priorities and most honored service. The program focuses training potential directors to operate national cemeteries as the shrines they are.
Acting Under Secretary for Memorial Affairs Steve Muro spoke at Ledbetter's graduation and outlined the importance of the role he will play in honoring those honored heroes who lay at rest in Ft. McPherson's hallowed ground.
"You have prepared to assume one of the most important and visible roles in the Department of Veterans Affairs," Muro told the graduating class. "It is with great pride that I entrust you with the responsibility of carrying forward Abraham Lincoln's promise to care for our citizen-soldiers who, on freedom's behalf, bore the battle and who will take their final repose among the legions of our Nation's departed heroes."
*
It was President Lincoln who began the National Cemetery program to honor America's fallen in the aftermath of this country's bitter and bloody Civil War. Now, just two days after Lincoln's 200th birthday and just one day before the nation celebrates President's Day, Ledbetter assumes a great responsibility.
He has spent 11 years working as a cemetery caretaker and heavy equipment operator at Dayton National Cemetery and is an Air Force veteran who has served England, Turkey, Italy, and stateside in South Carolina.
Ft. McPherson has been under the care of Vietnam Veteran George Bacon who has led the effort in putting on some of the most stirring Memorial Day ceremonies at the fort. He was unable to be reached, as of press time Saturday.
The VA currently operates 128 national cemeteries in 39 states and Puerto Rico, as well as 33 soldiers' lots and monument sites. More than 3 million Americans, including veterans of every war and conflict are buried in VA's national cemeteries.
Veterans with a discharge under honorable conditions, their spouses and eligible dependent children qualify to be buried in a national or private cemetery. Other benefits are also available to qualified veterans who choose a national cemetery or other cemetery. Those benefits include a burial flag, a Presidential Memorial Certificate and a government headstone or marker.
Visit the Department of Veteran's Affairs Web site to learn more.
Click on this story at nptelegraph.com to post your comments, or e-mail mark.-@nptelegraph.com.
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NEVADA
Photograph helps solve 20-year-old Comstock tombstone mystery
http://www.nevadaappeal.com/article/20090221/NEWS/902219964/1073/NONE&parentprofile=1058&title=Photograph%20helps%20solve%2020-year-old%20Comstock%20tombstone%20mystery%20
by F.T. Norton
Nevada Appeal Staff Writer
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Candace Wheeler talks Friday about how Virginia City historians were able to determine the origin of Mary Neville’s tombstone.
Candace Wheeler talks Friday about how Virginia City historians were able to determine the origin of Mary Neville’s tombstone.ENLARGE
Candace Wheeler talks Friday about how Virginia City historians were able to determine the origin of Mary Neville’s tombstone.
Cathleen Allison/Nevada Appeal
The tombstone for Mary Neville finally will be able to rest in peace at its original place.
The tombstone for Mary Neville finally will be able to rest in peace at its original place.ENLARGE
The tombstone for Mary Neville finally will be able to rest in peace at its original place.
Cathleen Allison/Nevada Appeal
by F.T. Norton
Nevada Appeal Staff Writer
VIRGINIA CITY — During the years, items stolen from Comstock cemeteries have been returned by thieves for various reasons, said Candace Wheeler, clerk for the Comstock Historic District Commission.
One woman from Oregon mailed back a pillar she’d poached, saying she believed it was cursed and was to blame for her divorce.
Another time, a man said he was cleaning out his garage when he came across items he’d taken years earlier and decided it was time to return them.
However, no such explanation was attached to the things left on the doorstep of the Comstock History Center in mid-January, just a note that read, “From the Gold Hill Cemetery.”
But photos that accompanied the items inadvertently solved a mystery two decades in the making, said Wheeler.
“Ninety-three percent of the time, we can’t replace stolen items because we don’t know where they came from,” said Wheeler. “But that picture, it tells us where she belongs.”
Among the dozen photos left along with the seven rusted wire frames used in memorial wreaths was a photograph of the headstone of Mary A.L. Neville, who died in 1872 at age 33.
In 1989, an unknown thief left Mary’s tombstone outside the Virginia City Courthouse. Since mapping of the old cemeteries was incomplete, historians had no way to know where it belonged.
For 16 years the stone sat in storage. The last three years it was kept at the History Center outside the office of Bert Bedeau, Historic District administrator.
The background in the photograph showed clearly that Mary’s tombstone had once been in the Gold Hill Cemetery near American Flats.
“It was exciting,” said Bedeau of the discovery. “Candace was running around like somebody had made it her birthday. It’s just so rare that we can actually put one of these things back where it belongs.”
After three visits to the dilapidated cemetery near American Flats, Wheeler and History Center commissioner Cal Dillon found Mary’s grave near the east fence alongside the road.
Wheeler said it made sense that Mary’s grave would be close to a road. No one — not even a thief, she said — would want to carry a 400-pound tombstone any distance.
Come springtime, said Bedeau, Dillon will repair or recreate a base and then reinstall Mary’s marker.
Though the 2005 legislature made it a felony to steal artifacts from a Nevada cemetery, anything taken can be anonymously returned, he said.
“We’re just happy to have the stuff back. We are certainly not interested in getting medieval on anyone.”
Contact reporter F.T. Norton at ftno-@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1213.
Comstock Cemeteries
• 93 percent of the items recovered cannot be replaced on the landscapes. There are few maps and records for the cemeteries.
• Silver Terrace Cemetery, the large cemetery at the north end of Virginia City, has 6,000 burial plots, but only 1,200 markers. The other were lost either to decay or theft.
• After installing a fence at the Gold Hill Cemetery in 2004, theft decreased by 89 percent.
Source: Comstock Historic District Commission
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OHIO
Clean-up deadline March 15 for Benton, Salem cemeteries
http://www.portclintonnewsherald.com/article/20090221/NEWS01/902210321/1002/NEWS01
February 21, 2009
The Benton and Salem township trustees have set a cemetery clean-up deadline March 15.
Wreaths, arrangements and other materials at Elliston and Limestone cemeteries remaining after that date will be removed. New arrangement may be displayed April 1.
All decorations and flower arrangements at Union and Roose cemeteries must be removed from the ground and headstones by the deadline. Anything remaining will be disposed
No decorations shall be put in place before March 22.
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NEVADA via TEXAS
Anonymous tip puts 136 year old headston in right place
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/bizarre/6273946.html
Anonymous tip puts headstone in right place
Associated Press
Feb. 20, 2009, 11:16PM
RENO, Nev. — The original location of a 19th century headstone stolen more than 30 years ago was discovered Friday in a cemetery with the help of photographs dropped off by an unidentified person.
Historians pinpointed the original site of the marker for Mary A.L. Neville, who died in 1872 at the age of 33, in the Gold Hill Cemetery using photographs that the person dropped off last month.
The photos were dated 1974, which is believed to be the same year that a thief made off with the headstone as a souvenir, said Candace Wheeler, president of the nonprofit Comstock Cemetery Foundation.
The marker itself was abandoned outside the courthouse in nearby Virginia City in 1989 and had been in storage since the photos surfaced. The cemetery is about 25 miles southeast of Reno.
Wheeler said she believed the person was the latest in a long line of thieves who have returned stolen cemetery items because of guilty consciences.
``A woman from Oregon returned a headstone because she thought it was responsible for her divorce,'' she said. ``Others felt it was responsible for some curse.''
Bert Bedeau, administrator of the Comstock Historic District Commission, said he hoped the photos encourage others to return stolen souvenirs.
``I think somebody was cleaning up their garage and said `There's more stuff that needs to go back to the cemetery,''' Bedeau said.
Even though criminals have returned stolen headstones in the past, their original locations rarely can be determined because of a lack of records and maps, Wheeler said.
``Stuff like this almost never happens,'' she said. ``The photos were the breakthrough we needed to find the headstone's original location.''
Nevada cemeteries have been plagued by vandalism and theft for decades. A measure passed by state lawmakers in 2005 made such crimes a felony instead of a misdemeanor.
Wheeler said little was known about Neville other than she had a husband, Thomas. Her headstone features a weeping willow, a poem and splendid engraving, she said.
COMMENTS
* Most recommended comments
* Most recent comments
MaryElizabeth (158)
MaryElizabeth wrote:
Back to where it belongs-
Correcting yesterday's wrongs.
2/21/2009 3:32:18 AM
Recommend: (20) (5) [Report abuse]
5MileHill (0)
5MileHill wrote:
The state of Kansas has had almost total devastation of Civil War Markers in some cemeteries. Veterans were given 160 acres in Kansas to get a fresh start after the war.
An iron star saying Veteran 1860 - 1864 and mounted on an iron rod use to mark all the veteran graves. Of course, we are talking markers for those who fought for the North.
In Oklahoma, there use to be about 1 inch pipes coming out of all Native American Indian graves with a 180 bend at the top. Many of those are missing also. It was for the spirit to depart. This is why hanging was taboo in Indian circles.
2/21/2009 5:30:42 AM
Recommend: (14) (0) [Report abuse]
golferguy (15)
golferguy wrote:
Tombstones also make great yard ornaments.
2/21/2009 8:49:10 AM
Recommend: (8) (13) [Report abuse]
TheBarb (0)
TheBarb wrote:
This jolted my memory. Many years ago the stealing of tombstones was a big fad.
2/21/2009 5:23:47 AM
Recommend: (8) (0) [Report abuse]
5MileHill (0)
5MileHill wrote:
The destruction of the Roman Army and most of Italy came from grave robbing soldiers after the fall of Parthia .. where the traditional march of triumph came with the returning soldiers parading captives in chains, animals in cages and burning the sweet smells of life and death .. unit colors flying .. became emaciated ghosts straggling home .. no captives to kill in the coliseum .. no captives to be sold into slavery .. no animals to do combat ... and their last banner and colors were .. the Chaldean plague.
Old Parthia was to work its way up the Danube river and sack Rome. Over a million captives died in the coliseum.
2/21/2009 5:50:55 AM
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JAKARTA
Six-digit dollar profits for digging six feet under
http://old.thejakartapost.com/detailcity.asp?fileid=20090221.T05&irec=4
Desy Nurhayati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Economic crisis does not always mean slow business. While many complain about the crisis these days, funeral services are not feeling the pinch at all..
People always need burial services no matter what the global financial situation.
For many people, a funeral is their last chance to do something for their late loved ones - to respect them and to be grateful for all that the deceased has done during their lives, and to mend mistakes.
"Well-off families are sometimes willing to spend hundreds of millions to provide the best service when any of their relatives die, even though the deceased cannot know of the lavishness," said mortician and funeral organizer Mahanani.
This is apparently a profitable opportunity for funeral businesses.
Mahanani, also known as Nani, whose customers include families of the country's top tycoons and high-ranking officials, said families usually asked for a premium service, including flower arrangements, decorations in funeral homes, catering and the entire memorial services.
"Those who have unlimited budgets usually let the organizer take care of everything, including decorations , as long as they are satisfied," Nani said..
"Sometimes they only want imported flowers for the decorations and ceremony, which costs more."
For a stylish service, a family can spend between Rp 300 million and Rp 500 million, she said.
Nani usually teams up with foundations or funeral homes to organize the service.
Most funeral foundations have membership systems, although they will also serve those who are not members for an extra price.
Members are entitled to get a full range of services, starting from facilities and equipment needed to hold the rite at funeral homes, various kinds and qualities of coffins, ambulance to take the remains to the cemetery and a graveyard.
Santo Yusuf, a Catholic funeral foundation located in Jelambar, West Jakarta, requires its members to pay Rp 4,000 per month per family for married members, and Rp 2,000 per month per person for singletons. The money is a kind of savings disbursed in the event of death.
Members are mostly part of the congregations of certain churches in the city, but the foundation accepts anyone. Those outside the church community must pay Rp 4,000 per person.
The foundation was established in 1972 and now has around 6,600 members.
"For members, we provided we provide a full service package for free when they or a relative dies, said Andi Basuki from the foundation's organizing committee.
Those who are over 65 years old when they apply must pay for 50 percent of their coffin in advance, which costs them between Rp 1 million and Rp 1.5 million.
"For nonmembers who ask for our services, we charge them at least Rp 2.5 million for the coffin," Andi said, adding that the foundation usually spent around Rp 4 million for a complete service.
A similar system is also applied by Yayasan Bunga Kamboja (YBK), located in Pasar Minggu, South Jakarta. The foundation has more than 100,000 members, most of which are Muslims.
YBK charges each member between Rp 4,000 and Rp 6,000 per month, and Rp 25,000 for admission fees.
Susan, the foundation's administrator, said members could choose two membership types: A, with a monthly fee of Rp 4,000, and B, with a monthly fee of Rp 4,500.
Christian members should pay Rp 6,000 because their funerals cost more, she said.
Members are only able to use the service if they have been a member to foundation for more than three months.
"If a member dies before three months of membership, we charge them Rp 2.5 million for funeral service and Rp 600,000 for renting the ambulance," Susan said.
If the deceased is below five years old, the foundation charges Rp 2.1 million, she added.
The foundation also offers condolence money of Rp 65,000 for the deceased's family if they are enlisted as members of the B group.
Susan said the foundation usually received around 15 calls each day asking for the service.
Although the management of Santo Yusuf claims it is a social foundation rather than a business entity, Andi said the foundation enjoyed profits when it received requests from nonmembers to hold the services.
"It is not that profitable, though. We still have to use the money to operate the foundation, including paying workers," Andi said.
Susan from YBK said, "We are a social foundation, but we cannot be entirely charitable, we need money to operate."
St. Carolus in Central Jakarta, another funeral foundation, allows customers to choose the kind of services they would like to have.
"Our packages do not bind people to paying for services they do not need," said Rentje Langkun, manager of St. Carolus funeral home.
"They are free to choose which one they like."
While most foundations only provide pre-burial services without helping customers look for cemetery spaces, which is quite difficult to find in the already crowded city, the San Diego Hills memorial park sells cemetery land to people before they have passed away.
Although most Indonesias are not yet familiar with the concept of buying cemetery property in advance, the company's sales are increasing, said San Diego Hills marketing director Manny Francisco.
"Our profits have gradually increased since our first year, starting with Rp 57 billion in 2007, Rp 63 billion in 2008. We expect Rp 120 billion this year," he said, adding that the business was safe from the impacts of the recession.
San Diego, Manny said, was the only company offering the service to buy cemetery plots before death.
"Most of our customers are above the 55 years and come from [wealthy] households.
"Buying cemetery property in advance allows you to discuss with your family, and you buy it only once," Manny said.
"But if you buy when your relative dies, you are not ready and people can take advantage of you because you are in a vulnerable condition."
The company has sold more than 15,000 burial spaces at the 500-hectare memorial park in Kara-wang Barat, some 46 kilometers from Jakarta.
San Diego Hills offers various cemetery plots, with the gross price per space ranging from around Rp 27 million to Rp 70 million.
The company offers discounts to customers buying more than one space. It also provides credit facilities to those purchasing in advance, while charging higher prices on the purchases at the time when someone dies.
Buyers also obtain certificates of ownership and do not have to pay maintenance fees - unlike public cemeteries, which requires families of the dead to extend the leasing license every three months.
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INDIA
Watchdogs hunt for dodgy Internet sites
http://www.itexaminer.com/watchdogs-hunt-for-dodgy-internet-sites.aspx
Sunday, 22 February 2009 04:50 UK Login | Bengaluru, India
Watchdogs hunt for dodgy Internet sites
Dirty deeds done dirt cheap
By Dave Murray @ Monday, September 22, 2008 12:23 PM
An international network of consumer watchdogs is sweeping the internet targeting genealogy and family history research in the search for scammers.
The International Consumer Protection and Enforcement Network is looking for sites that seek to deceive shoppers, investors and researchers with false claims, scams and overhyped promises.
Apparently there are all sorts of sites out there where researchers claim to provide your family tree. However some customers are claiming that if a family tree ever arrives in the mail, it appears to be made up by the scammers.
The sites targeted and trapped by the sweep will be given notice to clean up the information they provide consumers. Others might be asked to take down their site.
Consumer watchdogs have been fairly successful lately in targeting sites who think they can avoid consumer law. In Australia
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission recently launched a criminal investigation into a site called Designer Brand Outlet. While it promised discount designer clothes only to deliver fakes or not supply the product at all.
The ACCC closed the site and there are Federal Court injunctions issued against its owners. X
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NEVADA
Historic grave site to be restored
http://www.rgj.com/article/20090220/NEWS18/90220066&OAS_sitepage=news.rgj..com%2Fbreakingnews
Historic grave site to be restored
BY KARREN RHODES • edi-@daytoncourier.com • February 20, 2009
Soon the grave site of Mary A.L. Neville, who died in 1872, will be restored thanks to the recent anonymous gift of photos showing the placement of Neville's headstone in the Catholic Cemetery in Gold Hill.
Advertisement
Neville was buried in a sunny spot high on the hill above the tiny Comstock District town of Gold Hill. But in the 1970s officials believe her headstone was stolen as an artifact of the Comstock era.
Candace Wheeler of the Comstock Historic District Commission said that about a month ago, commission district administrator Bert Bedeau found a small collection of wire art from a temporary grave adornment with a note. It read "from Gold Hill cemeteries" and was on the doorstep of the Comstock History Center in Virginia City.
Along with the wire art was a collection of photographs that had been taken inside the Gold Hill Cemeteries labeled "1974."
While Neville's headstone had been recovered more than 20 years ago, there was no record of where her grave site was until the appearance of the photos.
"One of the photos distinctly showed us where Mary's grave was," Wheeler said.
Several days ago, volunteers pinpointed the original location of Neville's headstone.
Grave robbery is a crime.
"Artifacts were a cool souvenir for tourists and visitors who came through "” they thought nobody cared," Wheeler said. "It's common for stolen items to be returned, most often because the thieves believe they have been cursed in some way because of the theft," she added.
Brother Matthew Cunningham, chancellor of the Catholic Diocese in Reno said, "Undoubtedly her grave was blessed when she was buried." His definition of grave robbery was simple: "Thou shalt not steal."
He said, "When someone steals from a grave site it always tends to be a bit surprising "” people are often aghast."
The commission plans to work on restoration of Neville's grave site some time this year when weather conditions are better. Wheeler said the base stone of Neville's grave was not good stone, and the grave literally slid down the hill. This made her grave site even harder to locate because her headstone wasn't with the grave.
She said about 95 percent of the original artifacts at the cemeteries are gone. The wood became weathered and degraded and many items stolen, she said..
"Since 2004, when the fence was put in theft in the cemetery is down more than 80 percent," Wheeler said.
The last burial in the cemetery which is on federal land was in the 1990s.
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ILLINOIS
Published: February 21, 2009 12:13 am
Real Folklore
http://www.effinghamdailynews.com/features/local_story_051234736.html
Angie Faller
Effingham Daily News
Rumors of hauntings and paranormal encounters may forever be connected with Effingham’s Ramsey Cemetery, also known as Casbar Cemetery, yet one investigator recently published an article trying to explain some of those rumors.
Michael Kleen, author of “Legends and Lore of Illinois,” featured Ramsey Cemetery as his February case file. Kleen, a graduate of Eastern Illinois University, Charleston, refers to his job title as a folk historian.
“That means that I examine the history of a place from the perspective of the people living there. To me, their stories are just as important as names and dates, but you can’t have one without the other,” Kleen said.
In “A Quick and Dirty Guide to Ramsey Cemetery,” Kleen explained some of the possible origins to the rumors. Two of the most popular stories linked with the cemetery are tales of a werewolf and a man in a black cloak with red glowing eyes. Kleen thinks the tale of the werewolf may be associated with the less desirable groups of people who used to take up residence in the woods and caves near Ramsey Cemetery.
“As I explain in the ‘Legends and Lore of Illinois,’ Effingham County had a reputation in the 1800s as being a rough and tumble area. A lot of times, individual thieves or gangs would make their homes in the backwoods and among these kinds of rock shelters,” Kleen said.
And what of the man with a black cloak and glowing red eyes?
“His appearance might have something to do with the occult activity that is rumored to take place in the cemetery at night, or he might dwell in a more earthly realm — in the mind of local visitors,” Kleen wrote in his article.
Kleen also has heard of another story surrounding Ramsey Cemetery that could possibly link the stories together. According to this tale, a warlock was supposedly hung from an old oak tree near the cemetery.
“I can’t remember where I first heard that story, but I seem to recall reading somewhere that a warlock was supposedly hung from that old tree. In Polish legends, there are warlocks, or male witches, who have the power to turn into a wolf. Perhaps the werewolf legend, the legend of the man in black with glowing eyes and the warlock story are all related in some way,” he said.
Kleen has visited Ramsey Cemetery three times, most recently in spring 2008.. Though he finds the cemetery “fascinating,” he’s careful not to put a definitive label on whether the place is haunted.
“It could be haunted. People tell these stories all the time. I’ve been to dozens and dozens of these kinds of rural cemeteries. Every one has some kind of story associated with it. Usually, they are very vague. That’s what makes Ramsey Cemetery so interesting ... the variety and the specifics. But I’ve never seen a ghost there,” he said.
Kleen thinks people should worry less about trying to debunk rumors and enjoy the history of the place.
“I used to try and ‘investigate’ these areas using the kind of equipment you see on TV, but over the years I realized the history and the folklore surrounding these places is more real than the ghosts themselves.
“Don’t worry so much about what’s true or not true. Places like Ramsey Cemetery and its ‘caves’ make our lives interesting. They are shared by our communities and give us a sense of common identity. This is our land. These are our stories. One day, you might tell your children about the ‘werewolf of Ramsey Cemetery,’” he said.
Kleen’s article on Ramsey Cemetery can be found at www.trueillinoishaunts.
com. Information about Ramsey Cemetery will be included in a book Kleen is writing about ghost stories of Illinois for Schiffer Books that should be released sometime in 2010.
Angie Faller can be reached at 217-347-7151 ext. 131 or angie.-@effinghamdailynews.com.
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CANADA TORONTO
Burial space on my list of worries TheStar.com - Columnist - Burial space on my list of worries
http://www.thestar.com/printArticle/591078
February 21, 2009
Rosie DiManno
An estimated 106 billion people have lived – and died – since the dawn of the human race.
For that cool factoid – except it is less fact than speculative number-crunching, in large part a self-acknowledged exercise in whimsy – we thank the big brains at the Population Reference Bureau, an American research institute that gets asked this question all the time.
I'll spare you the complicated mathematical formula, except to note that the world population as of 2002 (6,215,000,000) accounted for 5.8 per cent of those who had ever been born, in the Homo sapiens era: That's us, walking erect, from discovery of fire to the Intel chip, grunt to blog, and you might well wonder if this is progress.
Where did we all go, in the continuum of ashes to ashes, dust to dust?
That question crossed my mind recently, after noticing an announcement placed in the Star that Mount Pleasant Cemetery was digging up a few internal roads to make way for more plots. The Cemetery Act compels this information be made public, before the spade goes in the ground for expansion.
Mount Pleasant is a lovely place to spend eternity, so tranquil, pretty views, an 83-hectare oasis of tree-shaded serenity smack in the middle of urban hustle and bustle, dating back to 1876. A nice place to amble and muse, assuming what lies beneath doesn't freak you out.
I'd happily get planted there, when the time comes, if I could afford the tenancy rates: on average, $6,000 per two-casket plot – most people plan on lying alongside a loved one in the forever hereafter – excluding tombstone or other memorial marker.
In death, the same real estate rules apply: Location. Location. Location.
A commuter grave, somewhere in the far reaches of the GTA, costs about $2,000. But I recoil at the 'burbs – ossification for the living – even for my mouldering bones.
And because I can endlessly find things to worry about, the Mount Pleasant notice got me to fretting over dwindling cemetery space in Toronto. The city has already spilled over all municipal borders. Where will they stick all those aging Baby Boomers and those of us bringing up the rear?
"In Toronto proper, the available land will be depleted eventually, but probably not in our lifetime,'' assures Rick Cowan, assistant vice-president of marketing and communications for Mount Pleasant Group, which operates 10 cemeteries in the GTA.
Already, his syndicate is "land banking'' in 905 territory, setting aside property for the purpose, their Mount Pleasant Rd. location currently home to some 250,000 individuals interred or entombed.
In Europe and Asia, where people have been living and dying for a hell of a lot longer, traditional burial practices have given way to practical considerations. Grave plots are now commonly "rented'' for a fixed term, the remains later disinterred and placed in an ossuary or crypt. It's posthumous recycling, intended to prolong in perpetuity the "life cycle'' of a graveyard, which strikes me as an oxymoron.
In truth, if mortal congestion doesn't get you tossed from your mummy chamber, erosion, acts of God and global warming just might. I've seen, from flooding in New Orleans to earthquakes in Managua, entire cemeteries on the move. In Alaska, I watched ancient Inuit graves – originally dug far from the coastline – drop into the encroaching sea, no ice floe left to restrain wind and currents.
Some cultures have done us all a great favour by putting corpses to the torch as religious ritual. It's tidy and environmentally friendly. It's also becoming increasingly popular as a cost-conscious alternative in the West.
About half of Canadians now opt for cremation.
Me, I don't want to end up in an urn on a mantle, an ashtray in a non-smoking world.
I'm thinking ... taxidermy.
Rosie DiManno usually appears Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday.
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