Cemetery adds columbarium for veterans

Veterans will soon have another option when it comes to their final resting place, thanks to Joint Operation Mariposa (JOM), which had a columbarium placed at Plains Cemetery last Tuesday.

"There was a desire and a need to have a columbarium in Plains," said Dave Williams, president of JOM, a nonprofit organization in Sanders County that helps veterans in several ways. The Navy veteran and Plains resident added there was "a community full of amazing people and businesses willing to help make it happen" and a determined board of directors to see it through.

The 1,200-pound columbarium, which stands just over five feet tall and over four feet wide, was delivered to the cemetery weeks ago and last week Studs Building & Home of Plains donated forklift time and operator Zach Butcher to place it next to the concrete slab made recently by Ed Foste of Plains and Rick Jones of Paradise. Williams, Foste, Butcher, and Danny Doughty, Foste's son-in-law, pushed the columbarium from a pallet onto the concrete slab.

The columbarium was designed for ash remains and has 160 spaces, called niches. Half of the niches are 5-3/4 by 5-1/2 inches for individual veterans and the other half are 5-3/4 by 11 inches for vets and their spouses, said Williams. The columbarium came with keys for each niche, one for the family, one for the cemetery official, and a master key. It also came with one of the wooden containers that would hold the ashes, but it would have cost $45 apiece for the rest of the boxes, which was cost prohibitive for JOM. Williams plans to look for local assistance in making the boxes, perhaps even help from school wood shops. "We support our local businesses and entrepreneurs and are open to having a local crafts person or business create the urns for the niches, but we are also a charity on a very limited budget, so cost for us is always an issue," said Williams.

It was Williams who came up with the idea of getting a columbarium two years ago after his father, also a veteran, passed away and they wanted to bury his urn. Williams said he had never heard of a columbarium and hadn't realized there was a need for one. He said the spaces will be free for veterans of Sanders County.

"As I started asking around, I found out there are a lot of veterans that wish to be cremated when they expire, myself included. Then one day I happened to have a conversation with a World War II vet and during that conversation he told me about an experience he had and that he had no desire to be buried in the ground or left in the garage on a shelf," said Williams, who has other plans for his ashes.

The project took about two years, mostly raising the $7,704 to purchase it and have it delivered. JOM raised about $8,600, including an "amazing gift" of $7,200 by an individual who wanted to remain anonymous, said Williams. The rest of the money came from individuals and businesses of Sanders County. Burial is free for veterans at Plains Cemetery, but now they have a place for their cremated remains, which takes up less space. Cremated remains take up a lot less space than in ground burials. "You can house several hundred individuals' remains on the space of one in-ground burial," said Williams. He said that another benefit is that if family members move, they can retrieve their loved ones' ashes and take them with them.

One of the 14 by 14-inch granite panels was damaged in the shipping from Wisconsin, but the company sent five replacement panels and it will be replaced soon. Williams said they have 40 single and 20 double slots that can be reserved; the rest will be on a first come, first served basis. He added that they are still working out the procedure for filling the slots and making reservations. Williams said there are people already interested in reserving niches. In addition, the person or people's names will be engraved on the outside granite panel of each slot, as well as a tag that goes on the box inside the niche.

The cemetery contributed 500-square feet for the project. Eventually, there will be a 21-foot circle around the columbarium with stone benches, a rock wall, landscaping, and a lawn area where ashes can be spread or buried, according to Williams, who created JOM in 2016. Plans are to get a monolithic stone, which he said is a stone that has a hole bored through it and a basin below where people can have their remains poured into the stone. Their names can be added to a plaque near the stone.

"It's going to look great here when it's all done," said Williams. When the present columbarium is filled, he said they might look into getting a second one. "But in the end I think that everyone wants to feel safe and among friends when they go 'home' and that's what I wanted to give them a place to call home," said Williams, who is pleased that the organization was able to get the columbarium for veterans at Plains.

"I love it, it has exceeded my expectations of what it was going to look like. Plus it will be a place of honor to show we care for veterans in the future," said Williams, who added that the black granite columbarium reminds him of the Vietnam Memorial in Washington, D.C. "It is something that we have needed in this county and hopefully we will be able to do more throughout the county in the future," he said. "It is a place that we can show respect to the veterans of the community and what they did for us all. After the whole area is done, it will be a very beautiful and sacred ground. It shows we honor our veterans."