Grettie Hennessy visits her son’s grave nearly every day.
During the winter months, she walks across a narrow pathway in the snow — until recently, plowed by the Alto-Reste Cemetery staff — to arrive at John Hennessy’s final resting place. In December 2004, at just 18, John was killed on the job in Lloydminster.
Since a change in foreman at Alto-Reste, however, Hennessy said she and five other bereaved visitors have had to plow the path and clear the graves they are visiting themselves. She said for at least three years prior to, and six years after her son’s death, the path was cleared by cemetary staff.
“The main reason we started to plow this little way ourselves, is so two elderly women can visit their husbands. They wouldn’t be able to get in here if we didn’t shovel this way ourselves,” Hennessy said.
The pathway has become a point of contention between Alto-Reste’s new foreman and the 16 people Hennessy estimates use the access vein to get through the snow to their loved ones.
“They don’t want us making a path that goes over other graves,” Hennessy said.
“But it’s been this way for 10 years; I don’t understand why it’s a problem now.”
Hennessy and John’s stepfather, Doug Lancaster, and Ron and Pat Court, whose son is buried in the plot in front of John’s, sent a letter to Red Deer Mayor Morris Flewwelling about the situation and what they perceive as an overall lack of grounds care at Alto-Reste since the change in staff.
“He sided with the management and said that there hadn’t been any complaints about Alto-Reste, but we’d complained, and others I know have complained,” Hennessy said.
John Hennessy’s plot is in a high-traffic area at Alto-Reste.
Most of the graves surrounding John’s, which have been cleared down to the grass by visitors, belong to the remains of younger people, who get visits from grieving parents, friends, and even grandparents, with more frequency than the burial sites of those who have lived much longer lives.
Trevor Poth, parks superintendent with the City of Red Deer, agrees the situation is a sensitive one, but tough decisions were made in the best interest of everyone visiting Alto-Reste, over select individuals.
“In the fall, we decided that we could provide the best level of service at Alto-Reste if we plowed a large perimeter trail around the burial sites,” Poth said.
Poth agrees that some graves get more visitors than others, but the goal of the city Parks Department has been to serve the public with consistency. He said the problem may have arisen because the previous foreman took it upon himself to plow pathways and have his staff clear graves upon individual request.
“Primarily this becomes an expectation issue, where if we are doing it for one person, we’d have to do it for everybody, and with the number of plots we have, that just isn’t feasible,” Poth said.
Poth said individuals are free to plow a path to the grave they want to visit or hire a contractor to work with their staff to clear a path and shovel the burial site itself, should they not be physically capable.
As the two city-operated graveyards in Red Deer fill up — Alto-Reste, and Red Deer Cemetery which no longer has space for burials — accessibility during the winter months is becoming an issue.
A perimeter path that doesn’t serve the people who actually use the cemetery during winter is a waste of resources, Hennessy said.
“What does ‘perpetual care’ mean? That these graves are only looked after in the summer?”
Poth said the city is working on a 20-year-plan that looks at the future growth of Alto-Reste, including the clearance of snow and how to accommodate visitors best during all seasons. He also said the access route Hennessy and others make through the snow is not an issue but the cemetery’s staff can’t dig the path any longer.
“They’re more than welcome to maintain the access, we just won’t be doing it with city staff,” Poth said.
syoung@www.reddeeradvocate.com