The Final Disposition - Mountain View Cemetery Event - April 24, 2010 Vancouver BC

Gravestone of Nellie LAY, died 5 February, 1920. Mountain View Cemetery, Vancouver, BC, Canada (JONES section /*/24/014/0005). Photograph by M. Diane Rogers, Fall 2009.

THE FINAL DISPOSITION - All Day Event

Mountain View Cemetery, Vancouver, BC.

April 24, 2010

De-Mystifying Death, Funerals, Cemeteries & Ceremonies

A forum designed to address practical and philosophical matters on dying and death. Discussion begins with hospice care and continues with the role of funeral homes and cemeteries. Alternative options such as green burial and the importance of ritual and ceremony will end the day.

Details at the Mountain View Cemetery website.
Free, but you must pre-register.

This full day event begins with a screening of “A Family Undertaking: Home Funerals in America”, and a session with Romayne Gallagher, Providence Health Care’s Division Head of Palliative Care and the Physician Program Director for Providence's Palliative Care Program.

Then in the afternoon there is a session with Barry Jeske, an independent funeral director and co-owner of Wiebe & Jeske Burial & Cremation Care Providers in Abbotsford, on the 'Funeral Home, the Funeral Director. What do they do?...Can someone “do it themselves” in British Columbia?'.

Then a session with Glen Hodges, Manager of Vancouver's Mountain View Cemetery, on the many roles of a cemetery.

Later, a session with Stephen Olson, Executive Director of Royal Oak Burial Park in Victoria on 'Green Burials and the story behind Canada’s first urban natural burial site in Victoria’s Royal Oak Burial Park.'

Finally Paula Jardine, Mountain View's own Artist in Residence, and Marina Szijarto, a contemporary rites of passage celebrant, artist & designer, discuss various cultural practices honouring the dead and the modern need to understand - and reclaim - the role of the artist in the sacred life of the community.

Free, but space is limited; pre-register.
Details & Registration Information at Mountain View's website.
Saturday, April 24, 2010, 10:30 am - 4:30 pm
Mountain View Cemetery, in the Celebration Hall & Courtyard, 5445 Fraser St, Vancouver, BC. (The Cemetery entrance is at 39th and Fraser.) Easily accessible by public transit.

This event includes tea and cookies, but please bring your own lunch and snacks.

Interesting note: Mountain View Cemetery is currently the only Canadian cemetery recognized by the Green Burial Council which has set the first standards for green burial services and providers and has four levels of certification.

Mountain View Cemetery in Vancouver BC is recognized in the 4th level as a 'Hybrid Burial Ground'. "Hybrid Burial Grounds are conventional cemeteries offering the option for burial without the need for a vault (partial, inverted or otherwise), a vault lid, concrete box, slab or partitioned liner. Hybrid Burial Grounds shall not require the embalming of decedents and must allow for any kind of eco-friendly burial containers including shrouds."

For more about green burial in British Columbia, see my previous post on a Mountain View event last fall: Artists and the Green Funeral Movement - Dec 9 2009 .

Gravestone of Mike JURKOVIC, aged 20 (indexed at Mountain View as JURKOVITCH; death certificate indexed as JURHOVITCH), born in Jugoslavija, died 6 February 1935, at Tranquille, BC. Mountain View Cemetery, Vancouver, BC, Canada (Section JONES/*/13/002/0011). Also in plot - Phyllis Irene YURKOVICH, buried in 1994 and Robert YURKOVICH, buried in 1992.

Photograph by M. Diane Rogers, Fall 2009. (If anyone is willing and able to translate the inscriptions on this stone for me, please contact me at canadagenealogy@shaw.ca .)

Doin' Things Right - Carnival of Genealogical Societies - First Edition

Entrance and office, Fraser Cemetery, New Westminster, BC. Photograph, M. Diane Rogers, 2008.

Kathryn Doyle who writes over at the California Genealogical Society blog has created the Carnival of Genealogical Societies. The first edition is: Doin' Things Right! We were to “shine a spotlight on a specific program, project, or publication at a genealogical society and tell us why it worked.”

One place I feel most genealogical societies 'do right' is in organizing and enhancing the activities and energy of its members and volunteers to benefit the wider genealogical and historical communities. The work of the BC Genealogical Society (BCGS) cemetery committee is a good example of this.

The Society started in 1971 and, as with most groups, members came from a variety of backgrounds and had a number of different interests, but many of their long term goals were the same. One of the Society's initial objectives was to preserve British Columbia’s genealogical records, including cemetery records and gravestone inscriptions. This was particularly important here as some older BC cemeteries are subject to extreme weathering or are in remote areas and not easily accessible. Information from these cemeteries needed to be preserved and made easily available to researchers. Preserving cemetery information is still one of the BCGS's objectives today - and many cemeteries here are active ones; surname and inscription listings need to be updated regularly.

Several members had done some cemetery recording before the Society started. Others who lived close to a smaller cemetery or who often travelled around British Columbia for business or pleasure began to do the same, but they recorded inscriptions on each gravestone in the cemeteries they came across. And very soon, society members ensured that these recordings would be available to others by organizing volunteers to type up inscriptions in a format that would make them easy to publish in the Society’s journal or to index and publish for committee or library use.

Some cemeteries are too large for one or two volunteers though and again the committee found volunteers to work on the larger projects together. The recording of Mountain View Cemetery in Vancouver, for example, took four years and the work of many volunteers to finish. Some who worked on the Mountain View project still remember their working field trips which were followed usually by lunch and good conversation at a Chinese restaurant. After this followed the typing of the inscriptions from the volunteers’ scribblers, the indexing and the typing up of cards for these - some 50,000 cards - then the proofreading, and the outline, layout and publishing of the index.

In the 1980s, the Committee began publishing new cemetery inscriptions for sale which meant these were available at a reasonable price to libraries, other societies and to individuals. In turn, this meant BC cemetery information was much more widely available.

This was all before computers, but Cemetery Committee members have always been quick to adopt new methods and assistance has usually been at hand from other members interested in new technology and tools. A member’s son developed the Cemetery Data Handler (CDH) computer programme which was used by the BCGS until fairly recently when a newer programme was needed for publishing. Nowadays we use digital cameras instead of scribblers for recording, and publish more on CD than on paper, but we can still have fun while working on our cemetery recordings.

Fraser Cemetery, New Westminster, BC, 2008. Photograph, M. Diane Rogers

In recent years, the Committee has updated most of its older cemetery recordings for active cemeteries. Again, this was often done by individual members for smaller cemeteries, or sometimes by volunteer groups in co-operation with the BCGS. But Committee members just finished two large projects, the re-recording and photographing of all the inscriptions of gravestones in St Peter’s and Fraser cemeteries in New Westminster, BC. Research was also done in other sources for this project, including in burial records and newspapers.

A genealogical society like the BCGS can co-ordinate these larger projects more easily than an ad hoc group, and has experienced members and volunteers to draw on, who are willing to teach the 'newbies'. And, because the BCGS Cemetery Committee has considerable experience editing and publishing cemetery recordings, the project results will be made available to others quickly and at a reasonable cost. And, the BCGS has BC Research services and a Library of its own where the information is used in assisting others to find their BC roots.

Columbarium added 2008, Fraser Cemetery, New Westminster, BC, 2008. Photograph, M. Diane Rogers.

References:

British Columbia Genealogical Society Cemetery Committee webpage: http://www.blogger.com/www.bcgs.ca/BCGS%20Cemetery%20Committee.htm

British Columbia Genealogical Society: http://www.blogger.com/www.bcgs.ca

British Columbia Genealogical Society, 1971-1996: The First Quarter Century edited by Barbara Rogers and compiled by Maureen Hyde (Richmond, BC: British Columbia Genealogical Society, 1998).

Cemetery Recording Booklet edited by Valerie Hooper (Richmond, BC: British Columbia Genealogical Society, revised, 2006).

Graveyard Critters - The Graveyard Rabbit Carnival

The topic for the February 2010 edition of the Graveyard Rabbits Carnival is -

Graveyard Critters!

This theme was suggested by Diane Wright, who authors three cemetery blogs: The Kansas Rabbit, The Wright Graveyard Stew, and The Grave Yard Rabbit Travels Wright
We were invited to post our photographs of cemetery critters.

Now I have a number of photographs showing 'critters' carved or otherwise illustrating cemetery stones - from doves to lambs and deer. I even have several showing horses. But all too few of my photographs show live critters of any kind in a cemetery.

The most memorable critter I've seen in a cemetery was a hedgehog in the Bassingbourn Cemetery in Cambridgeshire, England, and, no, this wasn't Spike the Road Safety Hedgehog. This was a real live little hedgehog. Again, no photo - I was too busy staring and thinking "Hey, it's Mrs Tiggy-Winkle!"

Back at home, I'm a city girl, and a Pacific Northwest city girl at that, so I think the live critters I've seen the most in cemeteries would be seagulls or those very cheeky crows. But they seldom sit still close enough for me to try taking their photographs. Many people here like to walk their dogs in local cemeteries. This is often a controversial topic, and some cemeteries have restrictions, but it's certainly not uncommon to see dogs (on leashes).

Whenever I can I visit cemeteries in the rest of British Columbia, though, and we are always warned to watch for bears and sometimes snakes. On a summer trip to the Whonnock Cemetery in the Fraser Valley last year, we saw evidence of a bear - if you know what I mean - but, thank goodness, no bear.

Last year, at the Anglican Church's Nicola Cemetery (established in 1905, St. Michael's Anglican Church) which has lots of high grass and holes in the ground, I was so busy watching out in case of snakes that I almost stepped into a whole mess of ants just outside a grave enclosure. This time I did take a picture, but if you can see an ant in there I'll be surprised. I can't, but I swear! there were hundreds - all were busy trotting back and forth in that one area.

CLAPPERTON Monument, Nicola Cemetery, (Anglican), British Columbia, Canada. John T.W. Clapperton, died 1913 and Rose Clapperton, died 1918. 2009 photograph, M. Diane Rogers.

Nicola Cemetery. 2009 photograph, M. Diane Rogers

Many cemeteries have attractive landscape features which may include 'critters' too. Here is a photograph of the beautiful heron fountain just inside the entrance to Ocean View Burial Park in Burnaby, BC, near where I live. (Herons are my favourite birds.)

Ocean View Burial Park, Burnaby, BC. 2009 photograph of entrance and fountain, M. Diane Rogers.

And just below, is a photograph of the most recent deer I've seen in a local cemetery. This photograph was also taken by me at Ocean View Burial Park in Burnaby in 2009.

I just couldn't resist!

The Graveyard Critters edition of the Graveyard Rabbits Carnival will be posted soon by the Association of Graveyard Rabbits on the Association's blog. Be sure to read the full carnival.

THE FINAL RESTING PLACE - GRAVEYARD RABBITS CARNIVAL

For my post, THE FINAL RESTING PLACE - GRAVEYARD RABBITS CARNIVAL , please click to visit my other blog, CanadaGenealogy, or, Jane's Your Aunt.

Cemetery Pt., Shoal Lake, Manitoba - A Festival of Postcards

Cemetery Pt. Shoal Lake - postcard front

The theme for the upcoming Edition of A Festival of Postcards is: WHITE.

Evelyn Yvonne Theriault, the Festival's Editor, who blogs at A Canadian Family suggested that I submit a cemetery card here at the Graveyard Rabbit of British Columbia, Canada. She's accepting anything related to white on postcards, including cards like this that are black and white.

The message on this postcard reads: Dear Joe I am sending you a picture of Shoal Lake which you have probably seen before. It is very pretty there is it not. I spent a day there this summer and enjoyed myself very much. Am writing to you. M.?. D. [bit hard to read the middle initial - could be S or G]

The card is addressed on the back to: Miss Josephine Lauder, c/o Mrs Laidlaw, 274 Furby St. Winnipeg.

Private Post Card; the postcard is a bit obscured but is marked - Birtle, OC, 04.

This card qualifies for the Festival as it's black and white, but also qualifies as its back is mostly white; it's an undivided back card. Postcard backs were originally officially for the address only - that's why the message is on the front - and possibly why the photograph is smaller than we often see, so as to leave room for a handwritten note.

Canada allowed divided back cards from 1903 on. See Postcards from Hamilton's Past for examples from the history of various Canadian commercial cards. I did notice that another Festival of Postcards contributor, Alan Burnett, at News From Nowhere, chose a similar card.

Cemetery Pt. Shoal Lake - postcard back

I had another card in mind originally, but I just found this one at the Vancouver Postcard Club meeting and I wanted to post it to see if anyone has any more information about this cemetery site in Manitoba. I believe it's from the Shoal Lake my mother, born in Manitoba, used to visit. That Shoal Lake is in Shoal Lake Rural Municipality (RM) in southwest Manitoba.

There are 3 Shoal Lakes in Manitoba though, one on the eastern border, shared with Ontario, and one (now three smaller lakes) in the southern Interlake region between Lake Winnipeg and Lake Manitoba. The Canada GenWeb Cemetery Project lists 2 cemeteries for the Shoal Lake First Nations in eastern Manitoba, and 11 cemeteries in the Shoal Lake Rural Municipality.

None is identified as at 'Cemetery Point, Shoal Lake', nor does Cemetery Point seem to be an official place name anywhere in Manitoba. However, Shoal Lake Point Burial Site in Shoal Lake RM is listed. I wonder if this is the area shown in this photograph?

If so, the cemetery has been transcribed by George E. Fedyck, but his website is no longer available. If anyone has any information about Cemetery Point at Shoal Lake or about Shoal Lake Point Burial Site, or has contact information for George E. Fedyck, I'd appreciate hearing from you.

This card was sent to Josephine Lauder, who, I think, lived in Winnipeg with her cousins, the Laidlaws, at the time this card was mailed in 1904, and perhaps to at least 1906 when she and a sister, Jessie, are listed in the Canadian census¹ at this same address, living with their cousins, the Laidlaw family, in Winnipeg, Manitoba. There was a LAUDER family living in Marquette District, in Manitoba, which would be near the southwestern Shoal Lake, but I haven't confirmed where Josephine and Jessie had lived earlier.

According to Geographical Names of Canada, from Natural Resources Canada, by the way, there are 15 official places in Canada using the name 'cemetery' -

Cemetery Hill in Alberta (Location 23-2-W5)
Cemetery Creek in British Columbia ( Yale Division, Yale Land District) Cemetery Hill in BC (once called a mountain - New Westminster Land District)
Cemetery Creek in BC (Kootenay Land District)
Cemetery Lake in Manitoba (Location 55-26-W)
Cemetery Hill in Newfoundland/Labrador (Ferryland)
Cemetery Lake in Nova Scotia (Richmond)
Cemetery Point in Nova Scotia (Cape Pictou)
Cemetery Pool in Nova Scotia (Feature - Annapolis)
Cemetery Pool in Nova Scotia (Feature - Inverness)
Cemetery Creek in Ontario (Huron)
Cemetery Creek in Ontario (Rainy River)
Cemetery Lake in Ontario (Lake Sudbury)
Cemetery Lake in Ontario (Lake Kenora)
Cemetery Point in Ontario (Cape Cochrane)

NOTE

¹Josephine LAUDER, aged 27, Jessie LAUDER, aged 25, both born Manitoba. Ancestry.com. 1906 Canada Census of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2006. Original data: Library and Archives Canada. Census of the Northwest Provinces, 1906. Ottawa, Canada: Library and Archives Canada. RG31, T-18353 to T-18363. LAIDLAW/LAUDER - Manitoba. Winnipeg, Sub-District Ward Three, Sub-District 3D, page 15, family #103, lines 5-10.

My Story's Buried at the Graveyard Rabbits Carnival.

The theme for this month's Graveyard Rabbit Carnival is "In the News". Write a blog post about something you read or heard in the news (recent or past) that pertains to a cemetery.

This month in the Vancouver area where I live there was a sad cemetery story - but not about a 'human' cemetery - it's about a pet cemetery in Surrey, B.C., the only one in the area here. Before the 1990s, some 600 pets were buried in this privately owned cemetery at an estimated cost of about $600 each for graves and headstones.

The cemetery land was later sold and the cemetery has since been neglected. Soon the land may be available for housing development.

There is still a restrictive covenant, but that expires in January of 2010. It's said that the developer offered to sell the land so that the cemetery could remain, but the price was too high.

This story has attracted a lot of comment locally and now it appears that there are at least 2 human gravestones here too - there might even be human remains. One stone, for example, identifies Murial L. Clerke as a corporal in the W.A.A.F. (British Women’s Auxiliary Air Force) who died in 1981, on the 16 August, aged 57.

Kevin Woronchak, owner of North Vancouver’s Until We Meet Again Pet Cremation Inc., is campaigning to save the cemetery. One solution would be to persuade the City of Surrey to make the area a public park. Kevin Woronchak can be reached at 604 - 924-1160.


"Push on to turn pet cemetery into park" CBC News, Wednesday, November 18, 2009.
Surrey pet cemetery nears end by Dan Ferguson, Surrey North Delta Leader, article with video, November 19, 2009.
"So long, Snowball: Surrey pet cemetery to be redeveloped" by Pete McMartin, Vancouver Sun, November 19, 2009.
"Veteran's memorial stone found in abandoned Surrey pet cemetery.
Save Our Pet Cemetery campaign launched" by Stuart Hunter, The Province, November 18, 2009.

Mountain View Cemetery Tour - November 22 - Vancouver BC

Ellen Jewel TWISS, Section Officer, Royal Canadian Air Force, Women's Division. Born 1914, died in 1947 at age 32. Commonwealth War Graves Commission stone, Mountain View Cemetery, Masonic section, Plot 105, Lot 1, family plot. Parents: William James Twiss and Sadie Jewel Twiss. Photographed October 2009, M. Diane Rogers.

Mountain View Cemetery, Vancouver, BC.

In Honour of Remembrance Day Tour - with Lorraine Irving.

In this cemetery, you will find three areas dedicated to veterans.

On this tour, we will feature Commonwealth War Grave monuments starting at the Celebration Hall and ending at the Cross of Sacrifice. Along the way, you will hear stories of veterans, including a nursing sister.

Sunday, November 22, 2009 at 10 a.m. - Meet at the Mountain View Cemetery Celebration Hall & Courtyard (enter cemetery from 39th Avenue at Fraser Street). $10 each person. (Cash only please.)

No reservations needed.

Hot chocolate will be served after the tour - between 11:30 am & Noon.

Mountain View Cemetery, 5455 Fraser Street, Vancouver, BC V5W 2Z3
Phone: 604 - 325 - 2646

More information, including details on tours in 2010, is at the Mountain View Cemetery website.

Related Links:

Canadian Forces after 1918 (including Second World War), Canadian Genealogy Centre, Library and Archives Canada - research sources for Canadian military, including information on obtaining files for those serving in the forces during World War II and database for files of Canadian military killed in WW II, including Ellen Jewel TWISS.

Commonwealth War Graves Commission

The Maple Leaf Legacy Project