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Service club gives Lively cemetery TLC

BY HEIDI ULRICHSEN [email protected] Before the Knights of Columbus Council 3909 started improvements at the St. Stanislaus Cemetery off of Hwy. 55 near Lively, it looked vaguely like a soccer field.
BY HEIDI ULRICHSEN

Before the Knights of Columbus Council 3909 started improvements at the St. Stanislaus Cemetery off of Hwy. 55 near Lively, it looked vaguely like a soccer field.

(From left) Cemetery services employee Merek Lehto, Knights of Columbus members Marvin Smith, Richard Jones, Russel Haas, Oli Casanek, Wesley Stewart, Robert Blake, Kris Dikran (on ladder) and Bob Curich (front), have put a lot of love into the cemetery renovations.
One corner was wet and marshy, and a flock of geese had taken up residence among the sparse gravestones.

But three years ago, Past Grand Knight Oli Cajanek and other members of the service club decided they would fix up the cemetery as a gift to their community.

The group of mostly-retired men have installed several reflective gardens, planted trees around the perimeter of the property and put up a gazebo.

This week, they also erected a large sign on the side of the highway so that people know where the cemetery is.

"It doesn't look like a field anymore. As the trees start to grow, it will start to look a lot more attractive," says Cajanek, who will eventually be buried in the cemetery himself.

The improvements mean a lot to people, he says.

One day, when they were working on the gardens, a young man who had just lost his wife to cancer came to visit her gravesite. He told them how much he appreciated their work. "His wife was just buried there. She had died of cancer. Two weeks before she died, she came out here to have a look at the plot. She saw us putting in the flowerbed, and she loved flowers and trees," says Cajanek.

"She picked the plot near the corner, hoping that we would put another flowerbed in there. It was in our plans, but she didn't know that. When we started planting trees and flowers, the husband came over. He was so happy that he watered our flowers for the first two months."

Cajanek thinks it's extremely important to take good care of cemeteries. It's an aspect of life that people sometimes forget, especially in this country, he says. "I was in Europe three years ago. On weekends, the cemeteries are just full of people. They're fixing up their graves and putting fresh flowers on them. We don't seem to do that in Canada," says Cajanek.

"However, I do see quite a few people taking care of the gravestones while we are working, and I do think it is important because your loved ones are buried there, and there's a link with your loved ones."

The club members pay for some of the improvements by holding fundraisers at their churches, St. Pius X Catholic Church in Lively and St. Stanislaus Catholic Church in Copper Cliff.

They also receive some corporate and individual donations. People can purchase a $150 tree from the club to be planted in memory of a loved one.

The flower gardens are incredibly beautiful when they're in bloom, says Cajanek. They've had a lot of gardening advice from local greenhouse owners.

In the spring, there are daffodils, tulips, irises, maltese crosses and primroses. As warmer weather comes to Sudbury, the asters, geraniums, trollius, peonies, salvia, lilies, hosta and zinnias come into bloom.

In the autumn, visitors to the cemetery can enjoy the heather, cat mint, sea lavender, correposis, lamb's ears and creeping strawberries.

"We've got quite a variety...It's a beautiful mix of colours. The planting is staggered so that no matter when you come, you'll have something
growing," he says.

Right now, club members are planning out their 2006 projects. A rock garden underneath the highway sign and a better entrance wall are in the works, says Cajanek.

To donate to the cemetery project, phone the current Grand Knight of the club, Len Hamel, at 692-5626.



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