Our Memorial Garden beautification and refurbishment is complete! We are so pleased with the abundance of care and love that has been poured into this sacred space, where we honor those who have gone before us. It is a gift to be able to spend time in quiet reflection and contemplation amongst the serenity of our fountain, lovely plantings, our carved Celtic cross, and private areas to sit. Click on the gallery images above to view full page.
This is our sacred ground, dedicated for the interment of the cremains of members of St. Edward’s Episcopal Church and their immediate families.
The Memorial Garden ministry, shepherded by Father Rick, alongside the faithful lay leadership of Ginny Kloepping, and members Tony Bianco, Dottie Gschwend, and Nancy Oliver, worked diligently on this phased plan to make improvements and to beautify the St. Edward’s Memorial Garden so that the garden is a welcoming space for reverent visitation, remembrance, meditation, and prayer.
With careful and prayerful planning in creating a space that honors our loved ones, while also envisioning future phases of the garden, we engaged professionals in the areas of monument creation; landscape design; hardscaping and walkway design; and expert artisans to preserve and transform our natural creations for future generations to feel at peace when choosing this sacred space as the final resting place for their loved ones.
Through the generous donations of St. Edward’s parishioners, and loving friends of St. Edward’s, we have raised over $30,000 to supplement funds in our Memorial Garden designated fund. We continue to extend our fundraising campaign to anyone who prayerfully finds it in their heart to donate to the most worthwhile stewardship of this space. All donations will be permanently memorialized in our records that are kept on display in lovely books in our sanctuary space.
We share with you the wonderful components in this Phase One:
- Trees planted, in memory of loved ones.
- A wheelchair accessible walkway established directly from the parking lot to inside the garden and the granite monument.
- The monument, custom-made of Barre Gray granite, professionally seated on a permanent foundation, designed to have both a North and South side with lovely bronze perpetual plaques, flanked by beautiful artistic carvings of St. Edward and a Celtic cross (on both sides), as well as the Bible verse of Mat 11:28: “Come to me all you who are weary, and I will give you rest.”
- Custom-forged perpetual plaques, created by the same foundry as our name plaques, mounted to the granite monument that will match our individual name plaques, giving us the ability to reposition plaques so family members can be listed together.
- A 10′ Celtic cross, designed and brought to life through the vision of a wood sculpting artisan, re-purposing our white pine at the garden’s peak, gracing our entire space looking towards our sanctuary.
- A wonderful meditation rock garden space with benches and water feature.
- Lush, professionally designed, landscaping that includes evergreens, flowering shrubs, and perennials.
- The addition of a natural privacy wall of Skip (Schipka) Laurels along our property line between our neighbor and the garden.
- The beautification and ground enhancement of the area between the Celtic cross and pine tree, providing additional space for visitation, contemplation, and interment.
If you would like to learn more about the St. Edward’s Memorial Garden, please contact Father Rick, at [email protected], or the parish office.