Letters - Where has Neepawa’s pride gone?

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Published on Tuesday, August 14, 2018

Submitted

Neepawa Banner & Press

I am writing regarding a recent article in the Neepawa Banner & Press regarding the perpetual care at Riverside Cemetery. (A floral debate. - July 6th edition)

I feel compelled to do so for a couple of reasons.

I was certainly shocked to see the deterioration of the cemetery in early July when we visited there. Yes, flowers had been planted but were overgrown with weeds. Certainly not what we wanted to see on our beloved grandmother and father’s grave sites. We then proceeded to weed the plots and make them presentable.

I spoke recently to an individual who visited in the past couple of weeks and they also commented on the appearance, saying many flowers had died and it looked like parts of the cemetery had not been watered.

Neepawa Riverside Cemetery has been known for its loveliness of well manicured lawns and trees, beautiful flowers blooming and never a weed to be found. Yes, costs have risen everywhere but, this did not happen overnight and some foresight should have been given into this situation before it got to the sad state it is now. Where has Neepawa’s pride gone...having people drive to Neepawa just to see this awesome graveside, not to mention the tourist benefits at your restaurants and stores. We know people who have made the two to three hour drive, to then boast upon their return at what a beautiful, restful place they had experienced.

Many of our family members are resting at Riverside and it was for the reason of its loveliness that my husband and I chose to purchase a unit in one of your columbarium several years ago. Other family members have also done so. Granted we do not live in Neepawa anymore and do not contribute to your tax base which does seem unfair to the taxpayers living there. However, what about government grants or Green Team support to help offset some of the costs? Please do not grass over such a beautiful place and at least consider Option 1 as mentioned in said article.

I also feel a bit slighted for the following reason. My father passed away in 2017 at 93 years of age and thought Neepawa’s perpetual care of the grave sites was so caring and beautiful. Therefore, we contacted your office and were told the cost of perpetual care would be $1,500 which we purchased for my parents plot. Now we find out that they might be planted over with grass so others, who did not wish perpetual care, will have the same care as my parents. This does not seem quite fair and we should have been aware that this might be the case when we inquired about this service.

I wish to mention that I understand Jack Fellows is no longer the head maintenance person at the cemetery. I hope he was well rewarded for his tenure there and the pride he personally took to ensure the cemetery was such a beautiful place. I wonder how he feels now to see his hard work is not being maintained.

Hopefully this situation can be rectified to ensure this “once” beautiful resting place can be preserved and well maintained.

Sherron and Bill McLean

Winnipeg, MB.