SOUTHWICK — With cremation becoming more popular as an alternative to traditional burial, the town’s cemetery committee will soon be installing a columbarium at a new cemetery.
“My idea was to create a thoughtful, quiet space for the loved ones of those who have passed away,” said Lisa Anderson, the town’s sexton.
Over the past few months, the committee has been installing a “reflecting heart” in an area behind the new cemetery, which is nearly complete, Anderson said.
The heart-shaped area has been surrounded by stones and equipped with three benches, and new flowering shrubs, trees and flowers have been planted along the inner perimeter to enhance the calming effect, she said.
Anderson said sod will be laid in the fall on what is now bare land at the center, and a podium will be installed that can be used during burial ceremonies.
She said precast concrete columbariums, also known as cineraria, compartmentalized structures for holding funeral urns, will be placed on either side of the heart.
The committee chose the location because it’s away from the cemetery’s main pathways and busy areas.
“I wanted a quiet place for my family to live,” Anderson said.
Anderson said the new area will be a healing space and a sanctuary for those seeking solace, comfort and peace.
“The heart is a place where families can work through their grief and emotions in a calm and supportive environment,” she said.
Each plot in the columbarium is for the burial of an individual or a couple. The plots are large enough to accommodate a casket, but there is a need to accommodate a casket in case one member of the couple is cremated and the other is not.
“The space has been thoughtfully designed to provide comfort and peace and serve as a place of individual and communal memorialization, helping to heal the grieving process and honour the memory of family members who have passed away,” she said.
The committee uses money from cemetery sales to purchase the columbariums, which Anderson said cost about $30,000 each.
It will still be several decades before the new cemetery is full, and Anderson said the addition of the columbarium will extend that time and extend the period the cemetery can offer traditional burials.
