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Remembering Whistler’s dead

A community’s story is written by its people, and how those people are remembered

"A cemetery is a history of people – a perpetual record of yesterday and a sanctuary of peace and quiet today. A cemetery exists because every life is worth loving and remembering – always."

— Mary Lou Brannon, Brannon Monument Co.

Whistler’s locals, long known for their youth, vitality and for taking risks, do not usually make death a big part of their everyday lives. With Halloween, All Saints Day and Remembrance Day upon us, I wanted to explore how the Whistler community deals with death and mortality, the role of traditional cemeteries, and how this small mountain town remembers its dearly departed.

Since moving to Whistler three years ago, I have attended more funerals, memorials and wakes than I care to remember. This is not surprising given Whistler’s concentration of "extreme" athletes who are involved in backcountry skiing, snowboarding, kayaking, mountain biking and other adventures where the risk factor is relatively high. Whistler is a unique community, especially when it comes to remembering those who have passed on.

Walking through a town cemetery, one can gain some tangible insight into the local residents and the community’s history. A cemetery also provides quiet solitude and acts as a sort of outdoor museum for the local community.

Upon visiting the Whistler Cemetery, one is immediately struck by the absence of tombstones, monuments or covered mausoleums and the fact that there are barely 20 people buried there. Furthermore, none of the granite markers or memorial tablets are older than 1986 – the year the Whistler Cemetery opened. In Whistler’s case, its cemetery does not provide as "true" a reflection of the community as do some cemeteries. This is attributed to the fact that Whistler is still a relatively young town, many residents have their remains transported back to their birthplaces, and others prefer to have their ashes scattered over Whistler Mountain, rather than being interred in a cemetery.

According to the B.C. Historical News , "In older, more traditional cemeteries, custom has dictated that even in death, people prefer to be buried with those whom they share a common bond. In the past, ethnic or religious groups were usually buried together." This is evident in Vancouver’s Mountain View Cemetery, which has distinct sections for war veterans, the Chinese community and for Jews. In Whistler’s cemetery, divisions are not based on religion; rather, they are dictated by the types of sports one is involved in. This trend will likely change as the town matures and once more seniors choose to be buried here.

George McKenzie, owner/operator of Squamish Funeral Chapel Ltd. says, "a community is not a real community until it has a cemetery and people have laid down their roots." For many people this rings true when the local cemetery contains the remains of personalities or families, like artist Emily Carr and coal baron Robert Dunsmuir buried in Victoria’s famous Ross Bay Cemetery. Notable locals interred at the Whistler Cemetery include Myrtle Phillip, her sister-in-law Jean Tapley, Dave Murray and Seppo Makinen.

The Whistler Cemetery was built on Alta Lake Road, just north of Rainbow Park, in 1986. This non-secular cemetery covers an area of 3.2 acres and is completely surrounded by forest and situated alongside a popular mountain biking trail. Memorial tablets have been placed level with the ground, to blend in with the beauty of the landscape and to facilitate ground maintenance.

Visitors to the Whistler Cemetery are greeted by a spectacular wooden entranceway commissioned by Marlene Lowry, to honour the passing of her husband, David Lowry, in 1981.

Kevin McFarland, a parks planner who was involved in the rejuvenation of Vancouver’s Mountain View Cemetery, was hired by the RMOW to design the Whistler Cemetery and to help develop new service offerings. In the past there were only two burial options available: inground burial and cremation. A recent and unique addition to the Whistler Cemetery has been the addition of columbaria – above-ground structures comprised of small compartments (niches) designed to hold ash-filled urns. This new service option was designed to blend in with Whistler’s wilderness setting and the existing plots. Columbaria consume less land and can easily accommodate Whistler’s future burial needs.

"The RMOW developed the columbaria in the cemetery’s south end in a garden-like setting with a wooden bench to create a contemplative space for family members to sit down and look onto the cemetery," said McFarland.

The columbaria are named after regional geographic Whistler landmarks (in alphabetical order) with names like Alpine, Brandywine, Cheakamus, Decker, Emerald and Fitzsimmons. In the near future, photos of each geographic area will be etched onto metal plates and placed above each columbaria. The columbaria roof shields the structure from rain and snow and the built-in ledge allows families to place flowers or mementos.

Cremation is the preferred burial method in Western Canada since cremation consumes less land, is less expensive and because our society tends to be increasingly secular, with fewer ties to formal religion. Cremation is popular especially with the aging baby boomers. According to McFarland, 67 per cent of B.C.’s population prefer cremation, while just 33 per cent prefer in-ground burials. In Eastern Canada, in-ground burials and entombment are still the preferred burial method.

Another unique addition to the Whistler Cemetery is the Scattering Garden, which allows families to scatter the cremated remains of their loved ones along a fern-covered forest trail. Over time and with rain and snow, the ashes blend into the landscape. To date, no ashes have been spread in the garden.

The RMOW plans to add slanted slabs constructed from naturally occurring stones containing memorial plaques at the north end of the Scattering Garden. The stone slabs will be named after local mushrooms, to provide some local flavour. A map kiosk will be located in the parking area to provide information on the cemetery and to direct visitors.

Whistler Cemetery still boasts the area’s cheapest real estate. Burial lots are reasonably priced, but prices vary depending on whether one is a resident, a non-resident, a veteran or an infant. Pricing and cemetery plot information can be obtained through the RMOW’s Deputy Municipal Clerk.

The RMOW’s Whistler Cemetery Expansion Plan was created after selling out of its original burial plots in the cemetery’s south end. Future expansion will occur in the cemetery’s north end, where planners are restricted by the area’s rolling topography, a large water main, and steadily increasing slopes with grades of between 12 and 15 per cent. The new columbaria will be built as single-sided walls to act as retaining walls or forest buffers. According to McFarland, the new burial plots have been developed close together to reduce the overall footprint on the forest. There is no official cemetery caretaker and all maintenance is done by the parks staff.

But a cemetery is only one place where people are remembered. Other ways and other services include:

Funeral Homes

The Squamish Funeral Chapel Ltd., which has been in the McKenzie family for the last two generations, remains one of the few independent funeral homes left in the Lower Mainland region and services the area from West Vancouver to D’Arcy. This chapel deals primarily with the remains of young community members, tourists and the terminally ill.

Owner George McKenzie and his wife Mildred have performed services at Alta Lake, on top of Whistler Mountain, and the Fairmont Chateau Whistler. One funeral even featured a potbelly pig. Every person is different when it comes to how they wish to be remembered, so no request is too strange.

The Squamish Funeral Home can also deliver a "living tribute", where photos of the deceased are set to music. The newest service offering is "virtual funerals" where the sermon is broadcast over the Internet, as was done with Whistler resident, Scotty Brown.

In our multi-cultural society, there are many different burial methods. For example, in the Indo-Canadian community, where burial traditions have not changed for thousands of years, the deceased is washed by members of his/her family and the body is then cremated. The funeral is treated as a large community event and hundreds of people come out to remember the deceased.

In the Buddhist Japanese tradition, cremation is the preferred option, while the Chinese culture accepts either cremation or burial.

First Nations people use a "hands-on" approach and the entire community participates in the funeral and the sermon, and the grave is usually filled by family members.

Roadside Memorials

Roadside memorials have become increasingly common in the last few years, especially with the number of road fatalities along the Sea to Sky Highway.

These roadside shrines are popular in Mexico, where graves are scattered all over the countryside. The Mexicans believe these beautifully decorated graves and memorials welcome the spirits of the departed and demonstrate that the family cares about them. In addition to flowers and candles, these memorials include items of significance to the deceased. A local example is the roadside memorial on Highway 99 dedicated to Scotty Brown, which contains such items as Brown’s hockey sticks.

McKenzie stresses that the word "memorial" can be used whether a body is present or not; a memorial encompasses all things relating to remembering that person. The cremated remains can be scattered in a meaningful place, but it is important to have a place where surviving friends and family members can go to visit that provides a focal point for memorializing the deceased. That explains why so many memorials have been erected around Whistler and along the Sea to Sky Highway.

More people than ever before are moving around the globe and there’s a higher probability that people will die in a place other than where they were born. This holds true in Whistler, where in many cases bodies and remains are flown back to places like Ontario, Quebec or Australia. Even if the actual body rests elsewhere, the friends left behind need a place where they can remember the deceased, especially if one believes that it is our souls that are immortal.

The Whistler Kayak Club erected a memorial at House Rock, facing the Cheakamus River, to remember fellow kayakers who died on Whistler’s lakes and rivers. The idea of a memorial started when local Kim Wetaski died in 1988 at Nairn Falls, after rescuing her boyfriend from the fast-flowing rapids.

Shawn Hughes, an active member of Whistler’s kayaking community, remembers that "Kim liked to suntan on the rock by the Cheakamus River. She would flash us whenever we kayaked past her. This was a very special spot for all of us, especially Kim."

When it was time to bury Wetaski, her friends decided to create the House Rock memorial in her honour, after concluding that the Whistler Cemetery was too cold and impersonal.

"We took Kim’s ashes down to the Cheakamus River and we all took turns passing her ashes down the line, which moved from close friends to family members, and her ashes were then scattered into the river. It was a very touching and personal moment for all of us and this tradition continues even today," said Hughes.

When Hughes’s friend Steve Smaridge died in 1993, kayaking "Fear Canyon" in the Upper Elaho River, another plaque was added for Smaridge at the kayaking memorial. The group also held a farewell for Trevor Petersen, a well-known local who died skiing in Chamonix, France in 1996. His ash-scattering ceremony was held at House Rock, complete with a fireworks display. Petersen’s friends created another memorial atop the peak of Blackcomb Mountain. Every Feb. 22, about 40 of his closest friends and family gather on the peak to remember Petersen.

"This spot has become like a church for us – a place where we can remember Whistler’s outgoing sports people, and we even perform weddings at the site," said Hughes. Over the years, Hughes has lost 29 of his closest friends in the Whistler area, from avalanches, car accidents, drownings or cancer.

The Whistler Kayak Club supplies the memorial plaques, while local sign-maker Charlie Doyle does all the sand blasting. The plaques are designed with dark lettering and minimal colouring to blend in with the local rock face. Plaques for patroller Neil Falkner and skier Brett Carlson were added in recent years.

Whistler is predominantly a ski town, so it is not surprising that many of the memorials commemorate those who died in skiing-related accidents.

Stuart Dickinson, a local skier, died up on Tiger’s Terrace in the Flute Basin after being caught in an avalanche. Dickinson is remembered by a small hut at the top of Whistler Mountain, affectionately known to his friends as "Stuie’s Inn."

The ashes of long-time Whistler resident John "Rabbit" Hare were scattered over Whistler Mountain when he passed away nearly two years ago.

The memory of other deceased locals is carried forward through annual sporting events, such as the Parson’s Memorial Cup juvenile ski races in honour of Bob Parsons; the Dave Sheets Memorial; Lumpy’s Epic Run in memory of Geoff "Lumpy" Leidal; and the Scotty Brown Golf Tournament.

Memorial benches and plaques are also gaining in popularity around Whistler. These benches are scattered in various areas around Whistler’s parks, the Valley Trail and golf courses. It is interesting to note that these memorial benches are no longer being used to just to remember the deceased; people are now buying them to observe anniversaries, weddings, and other special occasions. They have become another way for residents to demonstrate their love for the Whistler area.

Other memorial options include trees, drinking fountains, and boardwalks.

Green Burials

In the recent years, there has been a move from traditional burials to "green burials." The crematoria’s incinerators utilize about 180 litres of fuel per person in order to reach temperatures of 1,200 degrees Celsius, and the process may release carcinogenic hydrocarbons into the air. Embalming fluids and coffins are also quite toxic, and they can release body fluids and other materials into the local groundwater.

Green burials involve immersing the body in liquid nitrogen to dry it out, taking the broken, organic matter and then placing it in a biodegradable, cardboard coffin, which is placed into the ground without a grave liner. The body decomposes naturally, turning into rich nutrients and compost so it can sustain a new life. Although green burials are popular in Europe and Scandinavia, they are just gaining interest in North America.

Death, particularly in a place like Whistler, is a reminder that we are all linked to the spirits and souls of the dearly departed. Memorials and services to the dead have formed an essential component of every culture and serve an important role in bringing closure and commencing the healing process for the people left behind. But as the Reverend Anne Treadwell of the Canadian Unitarian Church says, "the way we remember is not half as important, I think, as the fact that we do remember."



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