BEECHWOOD: 143 YEARS OF TRANSFORMATION
It only makes sense that the overseer of the most treed and gardened cemetery in Ottawa, if not the country, has a bit of a green thumb.
Responding to a help-wanted ad, landscaper and horticulturalist Roger Boult arrived at what was then Beechwood Cemetery 28 years ago.
He was appointed operations manager of the 143-year-old site, and he was on a mission to expand and professionalize the care and upkeep of the 65 hectares of greenspace, gardens and forests where 80,000 people take their final rest. Over the years, the Ottawa native increased the developed portion of Canada’s national cemetery by 67 per cent.
While it conducts about 1,000 new burials annually, including military and RCMP, more than 14 of the cemetery’s 65 hectares of traditional burial space — or about 125 years’ worth of burials — remain untouched.
Through the growth and management of a place he obviously loves, Roger Boult learned virtually all there is to know about the bereavement industry; his talents, temperament and personality fit the job.
Now he is president and executive director of Beechwood Funeral, Cemetery, and Cremation Services, owned by The Beechwood Cemetery Foundation and operated by The Beechwood Cemetery Co, on a not-for-profit basis. All its funds go toward cemetery maintenance, preservation and enhancement.
Leading the organization since 2009, Boult oversaw the transformation of Beechwood, first as a cemetery and then, on the heels of sweeping legislative change in Ontario, into a one-stop shop where bereaved families could arrange visitations, informal gatherings, life celebrations, memorial services, funerals, catered receptions, cremations, burials, monuments and other memorials.
Boult was Beechwood’s director of operations during the construction of The Beechwood National Memorial Centre, which includes The Sacred Space, a nine-sided multi-functional facility conceived after extensive consultations with local faith leaders and the Ontario Multifaith Council.
In 2012, legislation allowed, among other things, cemetery companies to offer a full range of funeral products and services on-site. The act was 10 years in the making and, over that time, Beechwood was readying itself for what it saw as the inevitable.
“It has been received tremendously well,” said Boult. “The surprise for Beechwood really was in the number of people who wanted to prearrange funerals here at the cemetery. The projected number of families to prearrange at Beechwood was far surpassed.”
Indeed, prearrangement — along with cremation — is among the most significant ways in which Boult has seen the industry change in his 28 years at Beechwood.
More and more, sombre services and sullen ceremonies are taking a backseat to alternative measures to commemorate the lives of their loved ones — and many are planning their own well in advance.
The option saves confusion, pressure and heartache that can be caused by foisting the responsibility onto surviving loved ones who, more often than not, are scattered across the country, if not the world, when the time comes.
It also locks in costs — funeral prices double every decade — and prevents survivors from emotional overspending.
For those without families, it ensures a dignified and efficient funeral and interment, conducted just the way you want it.
“What you need to be a good funeral director is to be a good listener and someone who can explain the options well,” Boult said. “It’s more than just listening — it’s also being able to give options to families without putting pressure on them. It’s not an upsell.”
Boult is now looking to the future. In springtime, Beechwood’s 35,000 bulbs (most of them tulips) blossom in a riot of coordinated colour. After the bulbs come the annuals — 13,000 in all. The 9,000 perennials are changed every five years.
There are 2,800 magnificent trees, three-quarters of them deciduous, and many as old or older than the cemetery itself. Some are starting to die off, but thanks to Boult and his team of horticulturalists, Beechwood is prepared.
“Over the past 25 years, we would have planted a few thousand new trees to replace the ones we knew would eventually die,” said Boult. “And that’s what we are seeing now — the forest is thinner than it’s ever been, but the replacements are fast coming in.”
New sections are designed like the old, so as the years pass, the cemetery will be seamless.
“It’s a treasure, a jewel,” said Boult. “The beauty is year-round, whether it’s after a fresh snowfall, fresh growth, the greening of the lawns in the spring, the colours in the fall from all the maple trees. Just come and have a look; take a walk.”
For more information, visit beechwoodottawa.ca.