The Garden of Angels is both mausoleum (above) and maintenance facility (below).

Transcription

1 J u l y MAGAZINE CEMETERY CREMATION FUNERAL Dual duty: It s a garden mausoleum... It s a maintenance facility... It s two buildings in one Grounds up: Becoming Cemetery U/Funeral U Todd Van Beck: How to speak with more impact Preneed sales success: How to tell if your ads are working/exito de ventas por adelantado: Cómo saber si sus anuncios funcionan Plus: Projects save the environment, water and $$$ Differentiate your services Grief through the eyes of a funeral director No quick prescription for grief Bring obituaries back to life Protect against bloodborne pathogens Prevent crime through design Mausoleum on the move Spring Grove honored Restoring burial grounds Book reviews Maintenance: Making a monument preservation collar

2 by Susan Loving ICCFA MAGAZINE SUBJECT SPOTLIGHT M A U S O L E U M / M A I N T E N A N C E Is it a beautiful garden mausoleum? Or a state-of-the-art maintenance facility? The Garden of Angels is both. kellyd@mich mempark.com Kelly Dwyer, a fourthgeneration cemeterian and licensed funeral director, is vice president and public relations director of Michigan Memorial Park, Flat Rock, Michigan, and a partner in Michigan Specialty Funeral Carriages Inc. The cemetery is owned by Kelly, her mother, Barb Heston, and her sister, Heidi Umin. Kelly s husband, Dan, a fourth-generation funeral director, is president of Michigan Memorial Funeral Home. The Garden of Angels is both mausoleum (above) and maintenance facility (below). all photos courtesy of Michigan Memorial Park or architect Scott Goodsell, president, GH Forbes Assoc. Not just another pretty facade Mausoleum wraps around park s work area john@mich mempark.com John Fenech is superintendent of grounds operations for Michigan Memorial Park. He has 25 years of experience, including five years at MMP. Mausoleum No. 13 has turned out to be a good luck charm for Michigan Memorial Park. Every mausoleum provides families with additional memorialization options, but this unusual facility also: Solved two of the cemetery s major building needs at once. Forced the creation of what someday will become the park s major water feature as well as a premium burial and entombment area. Improved the working conditions and efficiency of the cemetery s operations crew. How has mausoleum No. 13 (official name: Garden of Angels) done all this? By starting out as a maintenance facility. Several years ago, Michigan Memorial Park Vice President Kelly Dwyer approached GH Forbes & Assoc., the company that had designed her husband Dan s funeral home, about doing some work for the cemetery. (Editor s note: Michigan does not allow combination operations. The cemetery is owned by Kelly, her mother, Barb Heston, and sister, Heidi Umin; Dan bought land from the cemetery on which he built his funeral home. For more details, see the January 2004 issue of ICCFA Magazine.) We had two big issues, Dwyer recalled. One was that we needed a new maintenance facility. Ours dated back to the 1930s, not long after my great-grandfather founded the cemetery. Our operations had outgrown the building, which was deteriorating, in any case. So, we needed a new building. 12 ICCFA Magazine Go to for one-click access to advertisers

3 Right, the horseshoeshaped niche area will feature the bronze, customdesigned Angel Alighting sculpture (model, below right) that will be the central feature of the Garden of Angels. Dwyer said the cemetery will sell 12-by-3-inch ribbons for memorialization on the base of the sculpture s pedestal, which will help pay for the statue. On either side of the horseshoe are low couch crypts and adjacent niches. In all, the mausoleum offers just under 600 eyelevel premium garden crypts and over 600 niches on two main levels. Along the upper-level balcony are family crypt-side entombments and secluded areas for meditation. The balcony, which overlooks the Garden of Memories section, affords a broad view of the Huron River Basin. In the future, Michigan Memorial Park plans to add 190 crypts to the mausoleum. Right, looking at the same area from a different angle, the 60-foot-long, 6-inch-deep black granite reflecting pool, a replica of one at a New York art museum, is partially visible. Dwyer hopes the pool, which will be heated, will function year-round despite the harsh Michigan winters. To help pay for the pool, MMP plans to sell 8-by-8-inch stainless steel plaques to be placed inside the pool and on which loved ones can be memorialized. Also, a limited number of cast bronze family angels, created by Angel Alighting artist Douglas Chick, will be available for memorialization around the pool. Douglas Chick of Troy, Michigan, sculpted Angel Alighting, which will grace the front of the mausoleum after being cast in bronze. The mausoleum s grand opening will be held when the statue is in place. For the latest news from around the world, go to and click on News Page July

4 ICCFA MAGAZINE SUBJECT SPOTLIGHT M A U S O L E U M / M A I N T E N A N C E Michigan Memorial Park was founded in 1926 with 128 acres; it now encompasses 300 acres, 178 of which are developed. The cemetery handles about 1,600 interments per year. Total interments are 64,000. Michigan Memorial Park won the ICCFA KIP Grand Prize Award in 2002 for its 9/11 remembrance service. The Garden of Angels is MMP s 13th community mausoleum. It sits on 2.25 acres. The maintenance area is more than 15,000 square feet and the mausoleum area is over 8,000 square feet. We also really needed more crypt inventory. I was so impressed with what Gale Forbes did with my husband s funeral home it doesn t look like a funeral home that I asked him to take a look at our maintenance facility and talk about our need for additional crypt space. He immediately said, How about a maintenance facility that s surrounded by crypts? I d never heard of such a thing, but Gale said he d designed one for a cemetery in Ohio, and it had turned out beautifully. (See page 22.) After he showed me some pictures, I asked him to put some ideas down on paper. Sure enough, the building he designed (see plan at right) was perfect. It took care of both of our needs. Forbes worked with Superintendent of Grounds Operations John Fenech and Dwyer to make sure the maintenance part of the building would take care of the cemetery s needs and would offer additional benefits as well. A maintenance facility that pays for itself, and then some The initial appeal of what Dwyer started out calling the mauso-maintenance building is easy for any cemeterian to appreciate: Suddenly and unexpectedly the building was a revenue-generator. I knew we needed a large maintenance facility, Dwyer said, and I knew it was going to be expensive. Let s face it, as a cemeterian it s hard to accept that you ve got to spend a huge amount of money on a maintenance building. But now that the building includes inventory to sell, we can defray the cost while increasing the memorialization options we offer our families. In fact, the cemetery expects to make a profit on the building. Of course, Dwyer added, it could be argued that the extra money above the actual cost of the project will end up being spent on building utilities and maintenance in the future. But there s no disputing the fact that wrapping the mausoleum around the maintenance facility created something beautiful, and is bringing in money as no ordinary maintenance facility would. Dwyer wanted the maintenance facility to be centrally located on the cemetery s 300 acres, but of course you don t want the public to have to see an ugly maintenance facility. It s not that a maintenance facility is an eyesore, per se, but it s certainly not a feature. But this one is. As the photos on pages make clear, what the public sees is a beautiful garden mausoleum tucked into a rolling hillside, surrounded by landscaped lawns and trees and overlooking a pond. What the public doesn t see, unless it goes poking around the back of the somewhat Pentagon-shaped The plan for the Garden of Angels shows the generous space for maintenance functions (orange) surrounding a paved yard largely hidden from public view. The yellow area denotes crypts wrapping around the building, some of which will not be built until Phase 2. Parking areas and the maintenance yard abut roads which buffer the facility from nearby property, as yet undeveloped. Though it is a multi-level garden mausoleum, ramps and walkways make the building fully accessible to the handicapped. Below, parking spaces designated for the handicapped are located by a ramp on the side of the building. 14 ICCFA Magazine Go to for one-click access to advertisers

5 M A U S O L E U M / M A I N T E N A N C E The Garden of Angels is on a gentle slope, which also helps hide the maintenance area. As you go around the side of the building (above, then right),you come to the parking area. Below the brick wall is the maintenance yard. Continuing around the side of the building and the brick wall, (above, then right), you clearly see the maintenance yard and bay doors. building, is a state-of-the-art maintenance facility tucked into the hillside, bounded by two access roads that provide a buffer between the maintenance yard (which is mostly enclosed by the building or by brick retaining walls) and the undeveloped section of the cemetery. About half of the cemetery s property has been developed, and the centrally located Garden of Angels faces the developed half and has its back (where the maintenance area is) toward the undeveloped section. The two-level mausoleum has tandem crypts on the first level and single crypts on the second, as well as 12 couch crypts, for a total of just under 600 crypts. More than 600 niches are included on the two floors. A 5-foot-7-inch bronze angel feature set atop a 4-foot pedestal will be a focal point of the mausoleum in front. All niches right now have granite fronts, but Dwyer has two areas on hold where the niche fronts will be bronze, with a large angel carved on each section so that the niche fronts form a single striking piece of art that fits in with the building s angelic theme. Sales in the new building have started off strong, Dwyer said, and when enough of the existing inventory is sold, the cemetery will embark on Phase 2 of the building, adding 160 crypts and walkways toward the back. The angel feature won t be visible from that area the way it is from most of Phase 1, so it s possible another feature will be added, Dwyer said. Dwyer clearly loves the sculpture, called Angel Alighting. (It s not shown in the photos because it was still being cast at press time; see photo on page 13.) Sculptor Douglas Chick of Troy, Michigan, was recommended by the architect after Dwyer described what she had in mind. She went to Chick s studio to get a feel for his work, and it was perfect, she said. After coming to the memorial park to see the mausoleum, Chick came up with a design that captured the feeling Dwyer wanted to evoke. The angel feature, scheduled to be put in place this summer, wasn t developed until after the mausoleum was named. While we were building it, we were calling it mauso-maintenance, which is a terrible name, but we had to call it something, Dwyer said. Finally I asked the memorial park s employees to submit suggestions, offering a cash prize to the person who came up with the winning name. Once we had the name Garden of Angels, we started thinking about some sort of angel feature. Design work on the building started in 2003, Dwyer said, as did the necessary paperwork. Groundbreaking was in 2004 and the building was finished (except for the angel feature) last year. Sale of inventory started last fall. MMP does not do preconstruction sales. We did preconstruction mausoleums in the past but it was a lot of hassle, Dwyer said. I realize that some cemeteries need the money from preconstruction sales to fund the project, but we just save our money and do one project at a time. You know when you do preconstruction sales there will be some deaths before the building is done, and then you have to go through the permit process to move the body and it can be very difficult and emotional for the family. From retention pond to feature One of the unexpected benefits of the Garden of Angels project has been the creation of a major new water feature. Like the building itself, the pond started out fulfilling a practical need and ended up giving the cemetery an aesthetic and revenue-enhancing boost as well. Because the Garden of Angels project covered more than 2 acres, the Michigan to page ICCFA Magazine Go to for one-click access to advertisers

6 M A U S O L E U M / M A I N T E N A N C E Eighty percent of the mausoleum crypts are located with a view to this one-acre pond. Though it was required for a practical reason (runoff water retention), plans are to eventually make the pond the memorial park s central water feature, surrounded by a mix of premium inground burial spaces and private estates. Above, tulips bloom briefly in a flower bed by the mausoleum. Left top, the sign for the Garden of Angels mausoleum. Left bottom, the mausoleum s angel theme is carried through on the crypt plate, adorned by an angel. Trees in the developed section of the memorial park are reflected in the mausoleum s polished marble crypt fronts. Some of Michigan Memorial Park s older mausoleums have no niche inventory at all, but as cremation rates have risen, more niches have been included in the cemetery s mausoleum. The Garden of Angels has more than 600 niches. For the latest news from around the world, go to and click on News Page July

7 M A U S O L E U M / M A I N T E N A N C E The demolition of our old maintenance buildings, which were built on a site overlooking the Huron River, will clear the way for a project that s on our agenda for the future: River Walk mausoleums. It will be a beautiful location. Kelly Dwyer Above and below, a pictorial tour of much of the bay area of the maintenance facility. MMP Superintendent of Grounds Operations John Fenech described the change from decades-old, unheated and scattered facilities to this central, state-of-the-art building as a 100 percent improvement, not only in comfort for the workers but in efficiency of operations. I have room to set up for everything, he said. Above, Herbie Quednau, professional memorial assember and installer, works on a memorial. 18 ICCFA Magazine Go to for one-click access to advertisers

8 M A U S O L E U M / M A I N T E N A N C E Above, vaults are stored in a corner of the shop. Left, Tim Novak, professional maintenance team member, works in the sandblasting area. With our new equipment, we can sandblast a crypt front in 15 minutes instead of an hour, Dwyer said. We like to make sure the engraved crypt front is always ready for the entombment. from page 16 Department of Environmental Quality required the cemetery to add a retention pond to deal with the additional water runoff created. When she heard the news, at first I thought, Oh, gosh, more steps we ve got to go through, Dwyer said. But what ended up happening is that we got another big, beautiful feature for the cemetery. We put the pond across the street from the mausoleum. Since it s to handle water runoff, it needs to be on lower ground, and that s property that really wouldn t make good burial sites anyway. So it worked out perfectly. Now it s a 2- acre feature that we re going to be able to develop in the near future. Much of the mausoleum has a view of the pond, but Dwyer s plans go far beyond giving families in the Garden of Angels an additional feature. The water level has not fluctuated as one might expect. For the past year, the water level hasn t moved, Dwyer said. If the water level does go lower, I think we ll be able to draw water from the Huron River, which is near the pond. We re working on getting a pumping system. Also, DEQ has given us permission to redesign the pond in the future. I ve got big plans; it s going to be gorgeous: A stone bridge, private family estates, maybe even a wedding chapel. I m really excited about it, but one thing at a time. When we need more burial space, we ll focus on the pond. Everyone loves ponds; they all want to be buried by one. The new maintenance facility includes an employee lunchroom with all the amenities. Happy families, happy employees For the cemetery s grounds and maintenance employees, the new building is like a dream, Fenech said. Instead of working out of several scattered and ancient buildings lacking heat, running water and bathrooms, the staff is centralized in a spacious facility with the latest equipment and amenities such as a lunchroom. It s so much more efficient now, Fenech said. We re all in one location, and I have room to set up for everything. I have areas for automated sandblasting, manual sandblasting, a marker prep room, separate storage facilities, a parking area. Every facet of the operation, from the 20 ICCFA Magazine Go to for one-click access to advertisers

9 Top and above, GH Forbes & Associates first combination mausoleum-maintenance building. The Bloomfield, Michigan, firm designed this dual-use facility for Lakewood Park Cemetery Association, Rocky River, Ohio. The concept of Lakewood s facility is similar to that of the Garden of Angels, but it s an L-shaped building. (See the drawing at right.) The inside of the L contains the crypts, which, along with the landscaped gardens on that side of the building, provide an attractive facade. Right, the plan for this mausomaintenance building shows a large maintenance area (the L-shaped section in white) and parking, as well as access roads from two directions. The facade of crypts (shown in red) faces gardens and lawn crypts. The white, red-outlined building drawn above the gardens is a possible future mausoleum. photos courtesy Scott Goodsell (ghfaa@aol.com; ), president, GH Forbes Assoc., Bloomfield Hills, Michigan M A U S O L E U M / M A I N T E N A N C E way we prepare our vaults to refinishing markers, is 100 percent more efficient. Michigan Memorial Park subcontracts out the opening and closings of the graves, mowing of the grass and memorial assembly and installation. The MMP unionized maintenance staff of six handles everything else. Everyone on our maitnenace staff and those we subcontract with does an excellent job, Dwyer said. They all take pride in what they do, and it shows. We pretty much do everything here, Fenech said. We do sandblasting of markers for other cemeteries, our crypt fronts and benches. We pretty much run a granite business. We have a room where we prepare our own vaults. We do our marker installation prep in a separate room where we have a hoist system. We used to have to move a bunch of markers to get to the one we needed for a job, but now we can get the one we need directly. Having all operations in one building and all-new equipment means a granite memorial can be ready in one day instead of the four to six weeks it took when they had to be ordered from somewhere else. Bringing the work inhouse gives us total control, and that is the key, Dwyer said. Markers, crypt fronts, benches whatever the family wants, Michigan Memorial can have it ready in time for interment or entombment. That s what we re in business for memorialization, and to please the family, Fenech said. Doesn t all this activity going on in the back disturb people visiting the mausoleum? Absolutely not, Dwyer and Fenech said. Why not? Extra insulation, plus the way the building is tucked into a hillside. Yes, people might notice a lawnmower going around to the back of the building, or coming out from the back of the building, but there s nothing unusual about seeing a lawnmower while visiting a cemetery, Dwyer pointed out. We haven t had a single negative comment about the new maintenance area, Dwyer said. We don t jackhammer; we re not loud. Even if people know it s there, there s no noise to remind them, Dwyer said, and the building is just so beautiful that you kind of forget the maintenance portion of it is there. 22 ICCFA Magazine Go to for one-click access to advertisers