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Creating a memorial garden on the Eliot grounds has been a dream for many years. Ashes of a number of former members are being stored at Eliot, their families awaiting the realization of this dream. In the last year or so, a proposal has been developed for the Eliot Memorial Garden, including guidelines for use and operation of the garden, and a conceptual landscape design by Moynihan & Associates, Inc. Eliot members who have been involved with the development of these plans at various times include David Brown, Faith Williams, Nancy Tartar, Erv Steinberg, Janet Pillman, Jan Chamberlin, Margy Terpstra, Elisa Voss, Tom Saunders, Jill Saunders and Roger Johnson.
We have visited area churches that have memorial gardens and interviewed representatives from those churches, and consulted with Eliot's Aesthetics and Buildings & Grounds committees in the development of the initial plan.
Based on those efforts, we contacted three landscape design firms for professional advice. We selected Moynihan & Associates to help with programming and design of the space, based on an interview attended by representatives of the Memorial Garden committee, Aesthetics, and Buildings & Grounds, and on Moynihan’s portfolio of work. Examples of their past work include the Butterfly Garden at Faust Park and the garden at Doorways – the AIDS memorial in the Central West End.
The plan assumes that this proposal will be explained to the congregation and will be modified based on feedback from discussions and a survey. The modified proposal will be presented to the Board for their approval.
Once a decision has been made to proceed, the design can be finalized and implementation can begin. After the garden is in operation, a Memorial Garden Committee will be charged with maintaining the garden and enforcing policies governing its use. This will be a standing committee which should include representatives from Buildings & Grounds and Aesthetics committees, ministerial staff and Board of Trustees and should meet annually or semi-annually.
Overview of Proposed Use and Operation Plan
The Eliot Memorial Garden will be a place where cremated remains of people associated with Eliot can be interred. People may also be memorialized in the garden even though their ashes are not interred there. A central tenet is that the memorials be equal -- no memorials will be distinguished from others by size, title, or other such distinctions. A space within a grid will be assigned to each person's ashes, but there will be no marking of the spaces or grid within the garden. Each person's ashes will be assigned the next grid space in sequence without concern for interring families together. Ashes will be interred in the soil without a container (or in a biodegradable one) so, over time, ashes will disperse and mingle with the ashes of others. Ashes could also be scattered, but would require a sprinkler system to assure that they would not blow away. Interment can be accomplished with or without a brief graveside service. No special memorials such as benches or sculptures to an individual will be allowed within the garden.
Some form of name engraving within the garden is envisioned, perhaps on plaques on a wall, with names engraved in sequence as remains are interred, rather than in groupings with other family members. There will also be a Memorial Book which is kept in the Eliot Library. The family and friends of the deceased will have the option to create a page for the Memorial Book, with material of their choosing.
Funds will be required to complete the construction of the garden. Implementation of the Moynihan design is estimated to cost a little over $50,000. As we refine the plan, we can look for ways to reduce that cost. It may be that there are members of Eliot who can help lower the cost by either donating services or obtaining lower construction bids. One other cost will be for printing of an informational brochure to inform interested members of the congregation of basic policies and to solicit donations.
Some of the funding will come from Spring 2002 capital campaign pledges which were dedicated to improvements of the Eliot campus over the next three years. Ongoing maintenance costs and name engraving will come from fees that will be charged for a memorialization. A tentative estimate of this charge, based on other churches' current rates, is $800. Costs should not be difficult to cover through fees charged for interment and through donations made to the Memorial Garden Fund in memory of specific individuals.
Most of the churches that we contacted inter only members and their immediate families (children, parents, spouses). However, some consider themselves open to all and have not yet had reason to restrict interments. All have a charge for interment, though in some cases, a fund is available for those who cannot pay. One church has a fee to reserve a space, and another fee to pay for actual interment and/or engraving.
Specific policies for Eliot will be determined and published by the Memorial Garden Committee. Click here to see the initially proposed Terms and Conditions of Use.
Location
After much consideration of possible sites by the Memorial Garden Committee, the Aesthetics Committee and the Building & Grounds Committee, the most desirable place has been determined to be the northeast corner of the property. This is the area bounded by the sidewalk along Argonne, the exit driveway on the east side of the property, and the sidewalks beside the building. It is the area that is visible from the sanctuary looking east out the glass windows behind the pulpit. This area can be enclosed with minimum disruption of current use or plans for the future and should not be impacted by possible future plans for replacing the RE wing or by plans for increased parking. It is of an appropriate size and the garden would present a pleasing view from the sanctuary. Potential water drainage problems that would affect the plantings in the garden will be alleviated by drains that are being implemented as part of the drainage solution for the parking lot.
The Moynihan Design
Moynihan & Associates has completed a conceptual plan that meets the conceptual guidelines described above. These guidelines provided for a garden designed to:
- minimize traffic noise and create a private and contemplative setting
- enhance the view from the sanctuary
- be more natural than formal
- be ecumenical rather than segregated in any way (e.g., to group families)
- be contemporary rather than traditional
- be without hierarchy based on donation, length of membership, etc.
The Moynihan & Associates design takes these guidelines into consideration, along with issues related to building, e.g., city codes, permit requirements, location of property lines, underground utilities, drainage concerns, etc. The design includes a low L-shaped wall that can also serve as a bench that extends along the north and east sides of the garden, and plantings that screen the wall and the garden from vehicular and pedestrian traffic on Argonne and in the church driveway and sidewalk. There is also a curved walkway and plantings along the north wall of Adams Hall. Suggested plantings and their location within the garden take sun and moisture needs into consideration. Click here to see the Moynihan design.
Congregational Ballot of May 18, 2003
A vote was taken at the May 18, 2003 congregational meeting on several questions related to the Memorial Garden project. The questions and results of that ballot are available by clicking here.
For more information, contact Faith Williams at .