Products, Vendors, CAD Files, Spec Sheets and More...
Sign up for LAWeekly newsletter
Carvel Morgan sees his profession as providing an important service to the community of Davenport, Iowa. He is the live-in caretaker for the non-profit Pine Hill Cemetery, where he has worked for over 20 years (and as the head superintendent for 19 years).
His duties far exceed caring for the grounds, however. He and his staff maintain virtually every aspect of the business from organizing funeral services in the newly built chapel, to mowing the lawn, to leading community fundraising events.
Carvel, his wife, Barbara, and their seven-year-old daughter, Angelique, live on the grounds of Pinehill. The 75 acres of land that the house is built on is populated with a variety of trees including evergreen, Douglas firs, blue spruce, ash, oak, and the inspiration for the cemetery?EUR??,,????'???s namesake, pines. In the summer one can find flowerbeds planted with perennials and Daniel flowers, primarily in reds and yellows, spread throughout.
Live-in caretakers are increasingly rare to find in the cemetery business today. For one thing, managing so many tasks becomes an all-day job and a lifestyle.
The most significant reason is that many people in today?EUR??,,????'???s culture don?EUR??,,????'???t want to be confronted with death every day. And by distancing themselves from death, it can become a very uncomfortable subject. Indeed, the greatest challenge to the job, Carvel describes, is feeling the grief of the families that he works with to make all the arrangements, during their devastation of losing a loved one. But that challenge can also be the greatest reward, as he there to ?EUR??,,????'??help them at the worst moment of their lives.?EUR??,,????'??
And Carvel gets to work outside, which he loves. Maintaining the lawn, collecting the leaves, shoveling snow, and then planting spring flowers, the landscaping work he performs as the seasons pass on the 75 acres at Pinehill is an interesting juxtaposition; he caringly grows and maintains the plant life, in the face of death.
Over 150 years old, Pinehill plays an important role in the history of Davenport, and Carvel and his family are one part of that long tradition. In 1854, A. C. Fulton, an early settler, purchased 72 acres of land two miles north of the city and planted over 500 evergreens and other trees on the land. It was then laid out in lots for burial purposes. Several area churches took an interest and each maintained a section for their congregation. Later, the cemetery was unified by a board of directors set by the community. In 1931 the board of directors made the decision to build a house on the property for the caretaker, which is used today as one of the very few cemeteries with the caretaker living on site.
Another married couple, Carl and Esther Kreiter, worked as managers for 54 years until their death in 1981. They were followed by two grandsons for seven years until Carvel and Barbara were hired as a team. Both earned the same landscape degree from Kirkwood Community College, which Carvel feels well prepared him for his career. Barbara does the recordkeeping and payroll and also helps out with flower beds as needed. At age seven, Angelique is now old enough to ?EUR??,,????'??tag along?EUR??,,????'?? when working on flowerbeds.
Four others besides Carvel and Barbara tend the grounds, including two year-round employees and two seasonal employees. The crew usually maintains normal business hours, 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Monday through Friday, carefully working around any scheduled funeral services outside or inside the chapel. The cemetery hosts about 140 funeral services a year. The services average about three a week, though they could be anywhere from one to five.
Because of this, the schedule can vary nearly every day, which requires the team to be extremely flexible.
Every week, the grounds are both trimmed and mowed by a three-person crew. Carvel estimates that it takes about 80 man-hours to trim the grounds and about 80 hours to mow. The trimming is usually done in the morning, followed by mowing later in the afternoon. When new graves must be dug, first the sod is cut off and then laid down again afterwards. The goal is to make it look natural, which requires that it be heavily watered, especially within the first two weeks.
The team uses exclusively John Deere equipment. They mainly use ride on mowers such as the John Deere 1435 with a 62-inch rear-discharge deck.
They also do all of their own maintenance on the equipment- about 2,500 hours a year on maintenance/repair. Every five years they trade off the mowers.
Iowa, like most states in the Midwest, is known to have four sharp and distinct seasons.
Usually during the month of May, the team tries to get all flowers planted for Memorial Day along with laying new sod down around the graves.
Summer is the ?EUR??,,????'??mowing season.?EUR??,,????'?? In addition, any new trees and new graves must be heavily watered during the first two weeks after replanting.
As the land is populated with many trees, the most important task in the autumn for the team is to catch the fallen leaves. After the leaves have fallen, the team mows the leaves and mulches the catch.
In the wintertime, they must keep roads and paths shoveled and cleaned off, using little salt. Tree trimming is also done. A special project Angelique and Carvel do in the winter together is to bring in the geraniums and grow them under lights to take cuttings for next year?EUR??,,????'???s gardens, along with starting the seeds of the perennials. As the heavy Iowa snow covers the cemetery outside, inside Carvel and Angelique continue to grow next season?EUR??,,????'???s flowers.
Pinehill operates as a 501 3© non-profit organization. Carvel explained that most cemeteries are one of three types: religious cemeteries connected to a church, public cemeteries connected to a corporation with stock holders, and a private non-profit, with a trust fund, managed by board of directors. Pinehill is of the latter. And as a perpetual care cemetery, a portion of all lot sales go into an irrevocable trust fund to insure a proper maintenance program for generations to come. The key under these circumstances is to provide service to the community above all else by maintaining and growing the cemetery.
The total operating budget is $172,000 for all expenses including equipment, maintenance and labor.
In 2003 a new memorial chapel was built for indoor services. It is a ?EUR??,,????'??full service,?EUR??,,????'?? chapel, meaning that families can watch the casket being placed and sealed into the vault through the back end.
The team also recently undertook a project of tearing down old machine shed and putting up a larger one for maintenance and servicing.
In 2005, for Pinehill?EUR??,,????'???s 150th year anniversary, Carvel led a fundraising event for trees and flowers. Over $3,000 was donated for new trees to be planted within the cemetery. A pancake breakfast was held to cap off the fundraising.
In the fall, the community had a Dutch oven dinner cook out and enjoyed horse drawn carriage rides through the cemetery.
In 2006 the community hosted another pancake breakfast and had a butterfly event presented through one of the local parks. Carvel describes the events as ?EUR??,,????'??a way we can give back to the community and share in some good times.?EUR??,,????'?? Another fall event for 2007 is in planning.
Pinehill Cemetery is a truly unique cemetery for several reasons. As it is one of the few cemeteries with an on-site caretaker, the grounds are maintained differently than anywhere else; because it is the home of Carvel and his family, the maintenance is done with extreme care, respect, and a strong sense of community and tradition.
The second reason is that Pinehill, as a non-profit operated by the community, ties together the community and the cemetery through events such as the pancake breakfast and the Dutch oven cook-off. In this way, the public can engage in the important part that Pinehill has played in the tradition of the city.
Thus, the cemetery truly reflects its mission statement: ?EUR??,,????'??The Board of Directors and Management strive to continually to make this a place of beauty and serenity, possessing a dignity befitting the important part it holds in the lives of the people of this community.?EUR??,,????'??
Raleigh, North Carolina
Francisco Uviña, University of New Mexico
Hardscape Oasis in Litchfield Park
Ash Nochian, Ph.D. Landscape Architect
Sign up to receive Landscape Architect and Specifier News Magazine, LA Weekly and More...
Invalid Verification Code
Please enter the Verification Code below
You are now subcribed to LASN. You can also search and download CAD files and spec sheets from LADetails.