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Columns

Posted by: AndrewHopkins on 12/02/2005 10:15 AM
Updated by: AndrewHopkins on 12/05/2005 03:49 PM
Expires: 01/01/2010 12:00 AM

Last resting place gets a makeover, courtesy of local volunteers

The Terrace Lawn Cemetery is getting fixed up to a park-like environment.

The Friends of Terrace Lawn cemetery was created to restore the cemetery into a more peaceful and pleasent place. The project will continue for a couple of years until it meets the expectations of the committee members.

By Andrew Hopkins
theclaw.ca

Murray Pletsch has a passion for genealogy.

His love for finding ancestors led to the creation of his website, ‘Gravemarker Gallery’ in 2000. The website is a stomping ground for fellow genealogists with the desire to find their roots in their family trees. The website has photographs of tombstones in more than 200 cemeteries from across Ontario.

One of those many cemeteries is North Bay's Terrace Lawn Cemetery, at the corner of Ski Club Road and O’Brien Street where a committee was created this summer to restore the cemetery back to its park-like environment.

The ‘Friends of Terrace Lawn Cemetery’ was created after Pletsch received an e-mail from Lorna A. Genereaux, a former North Bay resident who lives in Utah and returns to visit her mother's grave at Terrace Lawn every couple of years.

“She was concerned with the whole general condition of the cemetery,” Pletsch said.

The 13-acre cemetery, created in 1914, requires on-going care and maintenance. Like all cemeteries, over time plots tend to sink because the dirt compresses and leaves an indentation in the ground, Pletsch said.

“The main reason the cemetery was very noticeable and needed a lot of work was because all the plots have been sold out,” Pletsch added.

In May, a committee of 12 was formed whose mission is to raise funds from concerned private and corporate citizens of North Bay and descendants of family members buried in Terrace Lawn.

“And a place folks can come in and spend time with their ancestors and sit down on the bench and relax and enjoy it,” Pletsch said.

The problems that needed to be addressed in the cemetery were water, sinking plots, trees, and lawn. The first to get worked on after donations started pouring in was installing an irrigation system with standpipes for those wanting to water flowers or grass at their loved-ones' graves.

“There were 16 of these standpipes that were installed in June and essentially, now, folks can come in and use a 100-foot hose and they can put water directly on their graves,” Pletsch explained.

After the standpipes were installed, approximately 140 cubic yards of topsoil were purchased and spread around the sinking graves. Five recycled-plastic benches were also put up throughout the cemetery and six emerald cedar trees planted. In addition, the entrances to the cemetery were paved.

“The next thing on our list is to fix the leveling of the sinking plots - which is more manpower involved than it is money - and once that is completed the levelling of the plots can be done, essentially, by easy maintenance,” Pletsch said.

Other items on the wish list include planting linden trees in hopes of providing some shade in the cemetery, paving more sections of the roadway inside the cemetery and updating fencing around the perimeter, Pletsch explained.

To date approximately $23,000 has been collected through donations from North Bay citizens. In addition, some local companies gave discounts to the committee on some purchases and rentals.

“We’re really happy with the donations from the people and you know if anything it is improving, and most of the people that have donated so far have told us to come back next year and they will donate some more,” Pletsch said.

Of the $23,000 received, about $17,000 has been spent on the restoration project.

“So we’re certainly going out again next year to look for further donations to finish off the main items,” Pletsch said.

Kirk Elliott, a cemetery board Director, said Terrace Lawn's maintenance budget is $6,000 a year.

“An example of how far that $6,000 goes: there are other cemeteries in town that are half the size of Terrace Lawn and they’ve spent about $5,000 just having their grass cut and not doing any road maintenance or grave filling or anything else,” Elliott explained.

Elliott is pleased to see the ‘Friends of Terrace Lawn’ created to improve the cemetery.

“Coming along raising money is a great infusion of cash and they are able to spend it all on maintenance and filling in graves, putting topsoil and improving the roads,” Elliott said, “bringing the cemetery back up to the standard it probably was at when it opened.”

Small town cemeteries are all in the same financial boat, Elliott said.

“Cemeteries are very solemn places, reflect how we treat are ancestors and certainly they need to be kept in an appropriate condition,” Elliott explained. “It’s a kind of place that you want to go and have some comfort and some peace and quiet in beautiful surroundings and we are really pleased there getting it back up.”

Pathways in the cemetery had roots sticking out and rocks in the way, making life miserable for visitors and mourners.

“If you just picture your grandfather or your grandmother walking through here 80 or 90 years old and they would be stepping through these plots, you know they could break a leg or a hip and it could be dangerous,” Pletsch said.

To donate to the ‘Friends of Terrace Lawn Cemetery’ contact Pletsch at 495-2938 or visit their website at http://home.cogeco.ca/~terrace.