City cemetery to soon offer new options for burials

Dave Stultz knows exactly where he will be for the rest of eternity. His engraved burial site is a marble bench outside his office that waits ready to house his ashes in one leg and his wife's in the other.

Lone Mountain Cemetery will soon offer new options for cremation burials other than the benches. Within the next few months, the cemetery will open a cremation garden where ashes can be deposited at bargain prices into an underground "community" scattering vault.

Stultz, who has managed the cemetery for the past 11 years, said he purchased his marble memorial bench years ago after watching families struggle to make decisions when burying loved ones.

"I see so many people come in here to make decisions when they shouldn't be making decisions," Stultz said. "My kids aren't going through that."

An 82-year-old man recently placed his own bench in a nearby location after his wife died and he placed her ashes inside. Stultz often sees him stop by for a visit, sometimes sitting to cry, he said.

The Stultz bench has a permanent place alongside a new garden that will soon contain a vault where people may scatter loved ones's ashes. The underground vault will be 3 feet by 7 feet in size and 3 feet deep. "You can put quite a few in there," Stultz said.

The vault will offer an inexpensive way for relatives to scatter ashes. The ashes, which will commingle with others, can never be removed from the secure vault, Stultz said.

The cemetery, operated by Carson City Parks and Recreation Department, is proposing to charge $75 for users to deposit ashes in the vault. Cremation bench space may cost $550 on existing concrete walkways and $650 on paving stones installed by the city. Benches, purchased from outside vendors, can cost in the range of $3,000 to $4,000, Stultz said.

City supervisors are expected to make a decision at their meeting Thursday about prices for the burial services. Other prices up for approval are a $175 charge per cremation for opening and closing cremation benches, $150 for cremation stone space, when ashes are deposited into a pre-drilled stone and placed on site, and $175 for opening or closing of a cremation stone.

The garden will also be a place where cremation stones can be placed.