Kauai Cemeteries Running out of Space

Kekaha Hawaiian Cemetery
Kauai

I’ve been a frequent visitor to the beautiful state of Hawaii – probably going for business or pleasure at least 25 times in the last 30 years.  I love it there and find my little piece of paradise until I return home.

An article in The Garden Isle, the newspaper of the Island of Kauai states, however, that there is a little trouble in paradise when it comes to burying the dead on that island.  According to the article the island of Kauai is running out of cemetery space for its people.  The article mentions that recently soil from a grave had to be placed on a road just to make room for mourners to stand at a graveside ceremony.

While you don’t get all the details from the article, I think you have to understand the history of Kauai to understand the reason that they have so many small cemeteries on the island and not a large plot of land reserved for all.  The history of Kauai is that it was originally a sugar plantation island and people of all nationalities – Hawaiians, Filipinos, Chinese, and Japanese – came to the island for that work.  When those people, or their relatives died, they picked a plot of land that was symbolic to their nationality and made it into their cemetery.  For years these cemeteries were kept up and in good condition by descendents of those people.  Today, however, many of those descendents are gone and the county has assumed the responsibility for the cemeteries but no funding has ever been provided.

Adding to the problem is that many descendents have reserved property, sometimes without permission,  in proximity to their deceased relatives but, in all likelihood, will never use the parcels.  According to Harold Vidinha, a Kauai resident, “People go over there, digging graves where they can find a spot, and put their family in it.  It shouldn’t be that way.”

Funeral Director Daily take:  We have had these discussion on these pages before as this is very similar to what we have going on in the mainland United States rural areas with country church cemeteries.  Many have no one tending to the cemeteries – and if they do – they may not in another generation as families are few and far between in some of these areas.  Kauai, in essence, has the same type of problems in that the descendents that used to do the upkeep are gone.

In my rural area, we have had a Lutheran church take over an old abandoned township cemetery.  They have done such a good job that the cemetery now actually sells a few new grave lots for people who want to be buried in that area of the county.  My guess, where there is not an active church body at a small church cemetery and with some small non-denominational cemeteries, the government will eventually begin caring for them — townships, cities, or counties.  We cannot just let these cemeteries wither as they are a testament to our ancestors and pioneers of the past who built the United States.  We can have no greater mission than to honor those who have gone on before us.

I think funeral directors, especially those in rural communities who are seen as the death care experts in our community need to be leaders when these issues arise.  Sometimes by just being good citizens business could prosper — you may even sell some monuments as historical markers for a cemetery when you do get involved.  [wpforms id=”436″ title=”true” description=”true”]

 

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