MANSFIELD — Military veterans will soon have a new interment option in the Mansfield Cemetery with the creation of a “Cremation Wall Project.”
Officials with the Richland County Veterans Service Commission and Pam Bautz, administrator of the Mansfield Cemetery Association, discussed the $270,000 project on Tuesday with the Board of County Commissioners.
The commission has sufficient funds for the project, according to Ken Estep, executive director of the local veterans commission.
The need for the columbariums — spaces designed especially for cremation urns — is growing across the country.
The National Funeral Directors Association in 2023 projected that 60.5 percent of Americans would choose cremation over traditional burial, a number the organization projected will rise to 80 percent by 2035.
(Below is a PDF showing details on the Richland County Veterans Cremation Wall Project at the Mansfield Cemetery.)
Estep said local veterans officials began to notice the shift in cremation over traditional burials during a visit to the Ohio Western Reserve National Cemetery in Rittman.
“They just almost expanded … everything they’re doing is on the columbariums,” he said. “When I started to look at that, I thought, ‘We need to think about what we could do to make it so our (veterans) in Richland County can stay in Richland County, if they so desire.”
Estep and others on the commission credited Bautz for her work on the project, which will begin in August.
Bautz said the project will expand the life of the Honor Grounds cemetery land owned by the local veterans commission. It will also provide a centralized ceremonial area at the Honor Grounds.
Purdy Construction will handle the construction and setting of the columbarium units, which will be purchased from the Turner Vault Co. of Ohio, arriving as soon as November.
“We may see some of this erected before winter hits,” she said.
Under current space availability, there would be room for 104 to 108 more traditional graves in the Honor Grounds, Bautz said.
“We could bury between 1,536 to 3,072 people,” with room for two urns per niche for those who wish to be interred with their spouse, Bautz said.
“I don’t have any other land that I can work with the veterans on.
“I kind of just thought that this would be the smartest use of the land that (veterans) have and to still save plenty of land for ground burials through the years to come,” she said.
She said the “wall” would span the width of the Honors Grounds, approximately 160 feet. She said it will be created by placing cremation units together with a handicapped-approved concrete walkway between each set and also on both sides of the wall.
She said her plan is to move the Veterans Flagpole to the center of the area and place a flag from each branch of the U.S. military surrounding it. Stamps with the seal of each branch will also be placed into the concrete.
“It makes a very beautiful presentation of distinguishing the Honors Grounds,” she said of the above-ground “wall.”
Veterans Service Commission member Doug Theaker, who served in the U.S. Navy during the Korean War, said the organization’s goal is to serve veterans in Richland County.
“This is another very, very important service that we are offering to the veterans, again, of Richard County,” Theaker said. “We’re constantly looking for vehicles to improve and serve veterans.”
Richland County Commissioner Darrell Banks, a U.S. Army veteran, thanked the commission members and Bautz for the project.
“We appreciate what you do for our veterans and I wish you good luck and continue to serve and I hope the people will contact you as they need your services,” Banks said.
