To those of us who live in storied towns and communities that have been around since the before the Revolutionary War in the East and the westward land rush in the Midwest the title of this article may seem odd.  Historical communities have cemeteries. . . even cemeteries that are filled with no more space for interments.

However, the community of Gilbert, Arizona, used to be a small farming community back in 1980, but has grown 3500% since then and now is a community with 240,000 residents.  And, according to this article from azcentral.com, it is the largest municipality in the United States without a cemetery for its residents.  That is something that many of us take for granted.

While some of us may joke about the necessity of putting a cemetery in our community, it has became a real goal of the Gilbert community.  Says former Maricopa County Supervisor Denny Barney, “It makes great sense I would be buried in the community where my wife and I have chosen to raise our family, in a community that we love”.  Mayor Jenn Daniels, who also played a big part in making this happen, was quoted, “There’s a lot of people who have invested their heart and soul into this community, and want the opportunity to be buried and remembered here”.

The Gilbert Memorial Park is planned to open later this summer and will begin with a funeral home and a cemetery on about 10 acres.  The memorial park also has another 22 acres to expand with and other nearby options for the future.  The community of Gilbert has leased the land to Bunker Family Funerals and Cremation (www.bunkerfuneral.com) to operate for 99 years with two 25-year options.

Funeral Director Daily take:  With the advent of all other kinds of death care options looming, it is somewhat unusual to see this level of capital expenditure to construct a new funeral home and cemetery anymore.  Good for the City of Gilbert and good for Bunker Funerals to make this kind of investment in our profession.

You can see more information and a video of what the funeral home and cemetery will look like when completed here.  The video is very complete and  gave me an interesting look at what architects are designing into state of the art funeral homes today.

[wpforms id=”436″ title=”true” description=”true”]