Ashes to ashes, and a peaceful place to put them

After Phil Kendall's dad died and his body was cremated, his ashes were scattered in a Texas catfish pond, a pond he had built himself in a busy retirement.

That was fine and fitting (and he's not averse to that idea), but Kendall is hoping that when the time comes, his ashes and those of his wife, Ginny, will rest together in the niche of a columbarium set in a cluster of pines at All Saints Lutheran Church in Cottage Grove.

Kendall is among several parishioners who have been helping to plan the columbarium -- a large wall with a series of niches for holding cremation urns -- for the past couple of years.

"A lot of people don't like the idea of a memorial garden, a catfish pond or a mantelpiece," as places to hold the remains of loved ones, he said. "This way, it's kind of like buying your own cemetery plot."

The columbarium proposal comes before the Cottage Grove Planning Commission on Monday night. Because it's the first columbarium in the city, zoning codes need to be tweaked to accommodate the project -- and future ones like it, said Howard Blin, the city's community development director.

"The only real interest we have in it is what happens should the church relocate or disband," he said.

The columbarium, while heavy, rests on a foundation pad and is portable by crane. The city codes have to clarify the rules so that the columbarium would follow the church. "This is just something new that no one anticipated," Blin said. The church has been working closely with the city as plans have unfolded.

Lakewood Cemetery in Minneapolis added a 172-niche columbarium in 2008. As part of a 2007 renovation at Trinity Episcopal Church in Excelsior, its columbarium was expanded and relocated to its narthex. In Stillwater, the Episcopal Church of the Ascension dedicated a new, west-facing columbarium last spring that illuminates brilliantly in the sunset.

At All Saints, plans for the columbarium sprang from an evaluation of its property located west of Hwy. 61 off 80th Street, said the Rev. Jules Erickson, the church's senior pastor. Part of the improvements include the addition of a rain garden, rain barrels and a fire pit to enhance an outdoor worship area.

More importantly, she said, the columbarium is both an extension of the church's ministry and part of its mission to foster good stewardship.

"We know from a church perspective that, where your roots are, that's where you remain," Erickson said. In a society that has become constantly mobile, with families scattered, it is still comforting to have a place offering that sense of home.

Because All Saints doesn't have its own parish cemetery, the columbarium will create that familiar, peaceful place where families can come to honor, to grieve, "and to just go back into time and be with their memories," she said.

"We have to be the best stewards that we possibly can," Erickson said. "I completely respect the tradition of cemetery burial, but for me, cremation makes total sense."

The columbarium at All Saints will have 72 niches, each with room for the remains of two people, Kendall said. About 30 members have already expressed interest, many of them couples, or singles who have buddied up with friends.

It will be built by Eickhof Columbaria, a company in Crookston, Minn., that has installed 800 columbaria across the country.

For the Kendalls, there is comfort knowing their final plans are settled, so their children won't have to make hurried decisions as they are grieving.

"You don't want to have family angst in the middle of everything else," he said.