Headstone headache
Man wants to put concrete wall around father’s damaged grave, but says cemetery won’t co-operate
The entrance to Mount Pleasant Cemetery near the intersection of Cornwall Heights and Hamilton Avenue Extension in St. John’s is beautiful, particularly on a sunny fall day.
Passing through the large, black iron gates there’s a long, paved driveway lined on each side with tall golden-leaved maples, the afternoon wind gusts pushing the already fallen brittle leaves across the asphalt, making intermittent scraping sounds.
Breaking out into the main part of the cemetery, endless rows of headstones and grave markers are laid out, the grass is mowed and there’s an appearance of very well-kept grounds.
Ches Brushett, who lives in Halifax, agrees for the most part.
However, he said the area around the gravesite of his father, Chesley Malcolm Brushett, who died Feb. 7, 1994, is unstable and often causes damage to his father’s headstone.
While cemetery staff reposition the headstone and fix up the gravesite somewhat, Brushett wants permission to put a concrete wall around his father’s grave to permanently fix the problem.
He just can’t seem to get permission to do so.
“It’s been like it for awhile, the headstone has four cracks in the back and I could pick it up and take it away,” he said. “The grave is caved in, and the grave next to it was caved in, but they won’t let us (family) do anything.
“Apparently they temporarily fixed it level, but that’s going to cave in again, going to be the same thing next year.
“The issue is that I want to go in and put a concrete wall around it, do it so if the grave next to it caves in it’s not going to impact my father’s grave. And I’m willing to pay for it myself. They are not keeping it up and I don’t have time to go in there and bitch about it all the time.”
The cemetery is popular given some of the high-profile gravesites.
Among them are several leaders of Newfoundland and Labrador prior to Confederation, and the so-called “Father of Confederation,” Joey Smallwood. Brushett’s father’s grave is just down below the hill from where former premier Smallwood lies.
The Newfoundland and Labrador Field of Honour is also at Mount Pleasant Cemetery and is maintained by Veterans Affairs Canada.
Parts of the cemetery are also divided into private plots and perpetual care plots. The private plots are cared for by the plot owners (many of those plots have concrete barriers), while the perpetual care plots are maintained by cemetery staff for a fee.
Ches Brushett’s father’s grave is in the perpetual care section.
Mount Pleasant Cemetery is managed by the General Protestant Cemetery Trustee Board Inc., comprised of 19 member congregations in St. John’s. Voice messages left at the cemetery caretaker’s office were not returned.
Rules and regulations posted at the cemetery, however, state that perpetual care plots include the following services: removal of debris and sodding following interment; frequent grass cutting in season and other routine maintenance; and maintenance of headstones or markers, in sodded areas, required through settling.
There’s also a line in italics that reads: “Installation, maintenance and repairs of concrete walls is the responsibility of the plot owner.”
That’s the part that confuses Brushett. He says he’s been getting mixed messages each time he has inquired about what he would be permitted to do at this father’s gravesite.
He said he has been told he can’t install a concrete wall in the perpetual care plot section, yet the written regulations for the cemetery seem to suggest otherwise.
“My father has been dead for 20 years, and this is not the first time I’ve had to complain,” Brushett said. “I live in Halifax and I’ll be down next summer, and I want to be able to get this done. I will have a company come in and do it, so it will be done well.
“There’s just these mixed communications with the cemetery and I’m getting tired of it.”