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CJ Carroll digs a new grave at the American Fork City Cemetery Wednesday, July 27, 2011. MARK JOHNSTON/Daily Herald

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Mark Kawahara digs a new grave at the American Fork City Cemetery Wednesday, July 27, 2011. MARK JOHNSTON/Daily Herald

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The American Fork City Cemetery Wednesday, July 27, 2011. MARK JOHNSTON/Daily Herald

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Clayton Smith, with Utah Wilbert Vault Co., hoists a vault into place over a newly dug grave at the American Fork City Cemetery Wednesday, July 27, 2011. MARK JOHNSTON/Daily Herald

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The Provo City Cemetery is near capacity and is planning to expand, seen on Tuesday, July 26, 2011. SPENSER HEAPS/Daily Herald

Spenser Heaps

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Like many cemeteries around the country, the Provo City Cemetery is quickly running out of room. And while cemetery jokes of death and dying continue to surface, the truth is there really are more and more people dying to get there.

The surge of aging baby boomers and rapid population growth in the area are two factors causing cities and their sextons concern. Jamie Cornaby, the sexton of Provo’s 45-acre cemetery, says the growing need for plots pushed the city to purchase more property a few years ago. “Provo city recently acquired eight more acres to the west,” he said.

According Cornaby, there are 38,000 burial plots in the cemetery with 28,200 interred. Of the 9,800 plots left, the majority of them have been pre-sold. Only 1,150 plots are left to sell. Even the cemetery’s infant burial area is filled and they are using land around the Angel Garden for infants.

“We average 300 funerals a year,” Cornaby said. “Last year we also sold 250 plots.”

The eight acres were purchased in three parcels. Two acres on the south were purchased from the railroad. The largest parcel of four acres was purchased from the Losee family, and the third parcel of two acres was purchased from CB&I steel manufacturers.

“We’ve been purchasing these properties over the last five to six years,” said Roger Thomas director of Parks and Recreation and whose department oversees the cemetery. “We need to maximize our limited space. We are in the very beginning phases and planning. We are currently doing geo-technical planning.”

If planned well, Cornaby said the cemetery’s new land acquisition will get them 12,000 new plots, or between 30 and 40 more years depending on the types of burial. Types of burials offered include traditional in-ground burial, above ground mausoleum, niches for cremation urns, underground cremation burial and infant burial. In some Utah County cemeteries, but not Provo’s, they are allowing double stacking for family members as a way to conserve space.

The Provo Cemetery was established in 1853. During the settlement years Provo had three cemeteries: one on Temple Hill, where the Maeser Building at Brigham Young University sits; on Grandview Hill; and the original one at Fort Field.

People of interest from Provo’s past are also buried at the cemetery, including Beebe Rockwell, wife of Orrin Porter Rockwell ; Dr. Carlyle Harmon, inventor of the disposable diaper; Philo T. Farnsworth, inventor of the television and stereophonic sound; Martha Smith Harris, daughter of Hyrum and Mary Fielding Smith; Jesse Knight, at one time the richest man in Provo; U.S. Senator Reed Smoot; and author composer Ora Pate Stewart, among others.

For more than a century and a half Provo’s cemetery has been a landmark in the community, and not just for burials. It has been used for family gatherings, Memorial Day Services, genealogical expeditions and daily walks. The old pine trees have been one of its great attractions.

“The city needs to decide if they are going to be in the cemetery business in the future,” Thomas said. He added in past years there had been some discussion on opening another cemetery off Slate Canyon Road in the area of Bicentennial Park. The city has 20 acres by the Buckley Draw area. Thomas said the finances didn’t work out and that’s when the city purchased the land around the current location.

With the recently added parcels the city is now wondering if it should open the area all at once or do it parcel by parcel.

Thomas said the available funds will determine that. “We need development money and we don’t have development money.”

Funding for the cemetery, upgrades and ongoing upkeep comes from the city’s general fund. Currently any additional funding will most likely go to hire police officers and be used for economic development.

Thomas also advises that residents and families who may want to be interred at the Provo Cemetery think seriously about buying their plots now, while they are still available and cost less. Provo charges plots by the type of monument you’ll have. Plots with upright monuments are $1,100, flush to the ground headstone plots are $900.

Provo Cemetery, as well as several other cities and towns in the county, also are offering online records and images of headstones on their city websites to help facilitate family members and genealogists in finding their ancestors.

Provo is not the only city concerned about the future of its cemetery, other cities in the county are looking to future expansion. A few cemeteries are nearly brand new and have decades before they need to worry.

Alpine

Alpine Cemetery has approximately 4,800 grave plots with 300 currently available. The city is planning to expand to the north, adding approximately 250 more plots.

According to Annalisa Beck, the city will buy back previously sold plots at the current market value of $800 to help with the shortage. Anyone interested and who has the proper deed can contact her at the city offices.

The first recorded burial in Alpine was around 1860. All of the records at that time were written in the “Record of the Dead” and are not complete records. Alpine has online information and maps of the cemetery and those interred.

American Fork

According to Stephanie Cottle, the cemetery’s administrative assistant, “We’re doing great, but running out of land. The city council is currently looking for land. Last November we asked for money in a bond election. The voters said no. Now we are looking at other options.”

According to Cottle there has been a moratorium on plot sales for six years. “Our big concern is fast growth. We have 100 spaces left. We have started stacking family members.”

While lots are sold on an as-needed basis, families are able to use standing monuments or flush-to-the-ground headstones.

Cottle said two people of note — Edward Robinson, the world’s first railroad conductor, and Martin Hansen, who discovered the Timpanogos Cave — are buried in the cemetery.

Highland

City recorder Gina Peterson says she feels secure with Highland’s cemetery. “We’re fairly new, we’re only 10 years old,” Peterson said. “We’re on 17 acres and have 10,000 lots and have sold 2,500.” Peterson says they currently allow residents from out of the city to be buried there at a slightly higher price. They have received calls from Cedar Hills, Alpine, Highland, Saratoga Springs and Eagle Mountain.

While Peterson feels confident, she also knows that the cemetery won’t cover the future population. “It will get full,” she said. The cemetery doesn’t have a mausoleum, but there is a Veterans Memorial. The city does allow double deep burials in one grave, but currently there are just more than 200 people buried in the cemetery.

Lehi

Lehi has perhaps the oldest cemetery in the county, called the Pioneer Cemetery with burials as early as 1832. The area had a well-established trail and people who moved through the area were aware of the settlement. In 1855 the new cemetery was opened. Sexton Tony Holmstead said his cemetery is OK on space.

“We just developed 15 acres for the future,” he said. The current 36-acre cemetery is 82 percent filled. Holmstead said they are even looking at other ground because of Lehi’s anticipated growth. The one thing Holmstead was certain about was there will be no double stacking in Lehi. “Some areas are 100 percent clay, but some are 100 percent sand and the cemetery is surrounded by sand pits,” he said.

There are no headstone restrictions in Lehi. It has a Veteran’s memorial and Lehi also has digitized records, maps and headstone photos on the city’s website.

Lindon

Lindon’s cemetery was built in 1994. Seven acres were purchased, but only a portion of that is open presently. As the cemetery fills, the remaining acreage will be developed.

There are approximately 3,000 plots, with approximately 860 purchased, aside from the 261 burials.

According to city administrative assistant Linda Alger, “The first burial was a woman who lived directly across the street from the cemetery, Eva Millett, who died before the cemetery was even completed.”

Only flat headstones are permitted at the cemetery and there are no double burials allowed. Rates vary and there is no mausoleum. A veterans monument has just recently been built.

Orem

Sexton Dan Barrett said, “Eighty percent of the lots are sold out of the existing blocked out graves.” However, Orem has room to grow with the development of land to the south of the cemetery currently being used as city soccer fields. With some land redevelopment around the Murdock Canal the city expects to have 1,500 more lots by next spring. Barrett says that will make it so Orem doesn’t have to use the soccer fields for another six years.

Barrett also notes that Baby Boomers are more likely to cremate. “We use to see one or two a year. Now we see one or two a month,” he said. “There’s going to be a time where cremations will be it, probably in 50 to 60 years maybe.”

Orem just increased the cost of its plots to $1,000 on July 1. The cemetery also requires flush-to-the-ground headstones. It has a veterans memorial wall with the names of those who served in the military and buried in the cemetery engraved in the marble.

Payson

“We are doing better than most cemeteries,” said Gordon White, sexton of the Payson City Cemetery. The Payson cemetery sits on 35 acres with 18 acres improved for plots. The city purchased an additional parcel some years ago, White added. However, they have had a couple of fee increases over the past few years including a small increase this year. Payson is an older cemetery and features interesting headstones and a veterans area. It too has online information and record images and headstone photos for research.

Pleasant Grove

Opened in 1850, Pleasant Grove’s cemetery has 16,000 plots with 8,000 filled. All the other plots are sold. That is why, according to Sexton Kary Johansson, a new area of the cemetery was added and opened in 1983. “We figure we have about 20 years left if the standard trend continues,” Johansson said. “Almost every time someone comes in they ask when will it be full.”

He also said the cemetery has been double stacking for well over 25 years. The cemetery doesn’t offer an infant burial area or mausoleum, but the city is looking at getting a niche from cremation urns. “They’ve been talking about it for several years. With more cremations lately they are talking even more about it,” Johansson said.

The cemetery has no restrictions on headstones or monuments. One of the cemetery’s features is the veterans memorial gardens. According to Johansson, many early records of the cemetery were destroyed. “In the late 1800s the sexton kept all of the cemetery records at his home. The home burned down and all of the records were lost,” he said. Families were asked over the years to come and identify where their loved one was buried.

Salem

When Jeff Nielson isn’t acting as city recorder, he’s helping with the paperwork at the city cemetery. And from where he’s sitting the cemetery seems to be in good shape. “We have lots of room around our cemetery for future growth. In fact we will be expanding in the next couple of years.” Even though Nielson says it’s a wonderful little cemetery, he too has concerns about growth trends and what the needs will be in the coming years.

While they do allow all types of monuments and headstones, Nielson said the cemetery doesn’t have anything fancy. There is no special infant burial area, no mausoleum or niche for cremations. Every burial is a below ground burial.

Nielson said an Eagle Scout project last year helped digitize the cemetery records, map and headstone photos so that residents and genealogists can see records all the way back to the late 1800s when the cemetery was first opened. While he says there are no real notable people buried there, it’s still an interesting small town cemetery to visit.

Santaquin

The Santaquin City Cemetery has been around since the late 1800s but ran out of space about two years ago. The cemetery recently expanded with seven more acres, and offers an infant burial area and area for cremations. According to Jody Thomas, an assistant at the cemetery, they are allowing double deep graves. “We can more than double our size with double deep burials,” she added. Monument headstones are allowed in this cemetery, except in infant and cremation areas where flat headstones are required. Santaquin is also in the process of putting its cemetery information and pictures of headstones online for research purposes.

Spanish Fork

The first Pioneer cemetery in Spanish Fork opened in 1850, and 112 bodies are interred there. The current cemetery opened in 1857. The cemetery has 25,000 plots and all but 1,700 are either filled or sold. “There is a concern,” said Bill Bushman, maintenance supervisor. “The growth rate has been 5 percent per year. At that rate we’ll run out of plots by 2021.” Bushman indicated that Centennial Park just south of the cemetery was originally purchased to expand the cemetery 10 years ago. That park is 15 acres, but Bushman said they would most likely use five acres.

The cemetery features a veterans memorial and infant burial area. A favorite feature is the Christmas Box Angel Monument for families who lost children. On Dec. 22 last year, a devastating snowstorm stripped more that 100 conifer trees in the cemetery. With just two days to the annual Christmas Eve luminaria candlelight vigil, more than 40 city employees grouped and hauled more than 100 dump truck loads of debris out of the cemetery so it would be ready.

Springville

Springville has two city cemeteries, the Springville Historical Cemetery and the Evergreen Cemetery. The historic cemetery was opened in the late 1850s, according to assistant sexton Larry Johnson. Familiar area names in the cemetery include LDS leader Philo Dibble, Aaron Johnson and Enos Curtis. The Evergreen Cemetery was started in 1879, and according to Johnson has plenty of land. “We have lots of property to expand, at least 20 to 30 years at each cemetery,” Johnson said. While they have never run out of room, Johnson said the cemeteries have been double stacking for at least 25 years. This is always at the request of the family. Both cemeteries have veteran’s monuments and Evergreen has an infant burial area. Currently there are no niches for cremation urns, but according to Johnson they have been encouraging the city council to fund them. Last winter and through some of the recent wind storms the cemeteries lost some trees, but other than that Johnson said they are in great shape. The cemetery plots are available to purchase by both residents and non-residents.

Private Cemeteries

Eastlawn, Provo

Dean Judd, the cemetery manager at Eastlawn, said it doesn’t matter whether you’re city owned or private, the cemeteries are still filling up fast. “We are 75 percent sold out, but we do have some room to expand. I truly believe that down the road cemeteries will run out of space. Cremation will become mandatory. We are looking at adding a niche for urns,” Judd said. He added that in the grand scheme of things the cities will have a big problem within 50 years. The Eastlawn Cemetery is owned by the David Grow family.

Timpanogos Memorial Gardens, Orem

Owned by Berg Mortuary, the Timpanogos Memorial Gardens was established in 1956. It features an infant burial area, cremation niche and mausoleum. One unique feature of the cemetery is that vaults are already placed in the ground. According to Kathy Alger with Berg Mortuary, “We have a vacant lot north of the cemetery we have to develop, there is plenty of room,” she said.

Other cemeteries in the county include:

Benjamin Cemetery

Genola Cemetery

Camp Floyd Cemetery

Fairfield Cemetery

Cedar Fort Cemetery