By Melissa Petruzzi. Decorating graves to honor our loved ones who have passed makes us feel close to them. This practice is an important part of the grieving process for many of us, especially during the holidays. Unfortunately, when the holiday season is over those lovely grave decorations become nothing more than a pile of […]
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Grave Blankets: A Symbol of the Season
By Melissa Petruzzi. Most cemeterians are familiar with grave blankets: beautifully embellished evergreen boughs placed over a loved one’s grave like a blanket. Grave blankets can be ornate or elegantly simple, purchased or handmade. One thing they all have in common is the special significance they hold. Around the holiday season grave blankets adorn the […]
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Make Way for the Holiday Season!
By Melissa Petruzzi. The holiday season is approaching quickly, and it’s a busy time for everyone, including cemeterians. Many people of all different faiths visit gravesites this time of year to honor and remember loved ones. We’re sure you’ve done all you can to ensure your cemetery is an inviting place for family and friends […]
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Grant awarded for Veterans Memorial Cemetery expansion
By WTOK Staff. WASHINGTON (WTOK) – The Department of Veterans Affairs National Cemetery Administration announced Monday that it has awarded the state of Mississippi a grant of $3,628,930 for the expansion of Mississippi Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Newton. “Our state partners are critical in helping NCA achieve our strategic goal of making sure Veterans and […]
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Historic Brooklyn Cemetery Seeks Its First Artist-in-Residence
By Nora McGreevy. As one of the largest, most storied burial sites in the country, Brooklyn’s Green-Wood Cemetery houses the graves of many great Americans, including Neo-Expressionist artist Jean-Michel Basquiat, composer Leonard Bernstein, stained-glass designer Louis Comfort Tiffany and New-York Tribune editor Horace Greeley. Now, the historic cemetery is inviting a living artist to seek […]
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Lookin’ Around Litch: City cemetery evokes sense of pride
By Stan Roeser. When Beth Kargas was startled, at 23 years old in her routine city staff job, by a directive from then city Administrator Bruce Miller, to take over as head of the sprawling Litchfield Cemetery, her reaction, she recalls, was one of near terror. But she has settled into the position comfortably, and […]
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Clemson discovers 215 unmarked graves inside historic, on-campus cemetery
By Zoe Nicholson. University has discovered at least 215 unmarked graves containing slaves and convict laborers at the site of Woodland Cemetery, its on-campus graveyard for employees next to Memorial Stadium. A steep hillside at Woodland Cemetery has long been identified as the site where enslaved people who worked at Fort Hill Plantation and convict […]
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Cremation: Rising Popularity Creates Changes in Death Care Industry
By Melissa Petruzzi. Many aspects of the death care industry are changing, but perhaps one of the biggest changes is the push toward cremation. Cremation has been the most popular death care option for Americans since 2015, and its popularity continues to climb. According to the National Funeral Directors Association, in the next 20 years […]
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Archaeologists Unearth 16th-Century Children’s Cemetery in Poland
By Theresa Machemer. Construction of a road in southeast Poland has unearthed a centuries-old cemetery containing the remains of more than 100 children. As Stuart Dowell reports for Polish media outlet the First News, archaeologists from Arkadia Firma Archeologiczna excavated the area following construction workers’ discovery of human remains. Between 70 and 80 percent of […]
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It’s a Good Thing: The cemetery industry sees a major plot twist
By Matt O’Grady. Growing up in West Van, a teenaged Erik Lees pined for only one thing: “It was the late 1960s, man. I just wanted to go back to the land—to check out of the city.” He soon achieved that dream, moving to Nelson—the epicentre of B.C.’s counterculture movement—to launch a career as a […]
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