Case Studies

In a state where the cremation rate has topped 50 percent for a number of years, the owners of Glen Haven Memorial Gardens in Crystal, Minnesota, understand something very important – cremation families want choices when the time comes to bury or inter a loved one. It was in 2005 that Washburn-McReavy Funeral Chapels acquired the 37-acre Glen Haven Memorial Gardens. From the start, cemetery manager Jon Seitz said, it was important that families in the Twin Cities area have choices.

Those choices grew five years ago when Washburn McReavy owner Bill McReavy Sr. decided to add a columbarium complex at Glen Haven. Originally envisioned as a phased project, McReavy decided that it made more sense to build the entire complex at one time, Seitz said. “We know our cremation rate is expected to go up to 63.2 percent by 2018, so it really makes sense,” he said. Washburn-McReavy operates four cemeteries in the Twin Cities area, Seitz said, and each property offers families a number of cremation options – from ossuaries to in-ground cremation burials to columbaria. The Sierra White^® columbarium complex at Glen Haven features a center hexagon-shaped columbaria with four wings.

The project was designed and installed by Coldspring.

It was important, Coldspring project manager Jason Craft said, that the complex include a four-sided statue featuring apostles Mark, Matthew, John and Luke. The area where the complex is located previously featured a statue of the apostles, but its age made it impossible to be included in the new design. Instead, an in-house Coldspring sculptor created a 3-D model of a new statue, and later carved the massive 6-foot tall sculpture. “He really brought it to life,” Craft said.

To gain additional niche spaces, the statue was placed on the center hexagon, which also created a point of interest in the cemetery. When it came time to position the new statue, it was important that each apostle face in the same direction as the statue it replaced, Craft noted.

“We’re now able to offer families not only a place to inter loved ones, but a place to reflect and remember,” Seitz said.