graveyard

Vida J Morkunas

A small Native cemetery, with its own Gothic arch and carved wooden headboards rendered in a wonderful folk art manner, is found about 8km away from Skookumchuck.

It features very old gravestones built from early to mid-20th century.

Skookumchuck has its own cemetary There was a gravestone for a community Chief, and several headstones for very old people, as well as for babies...

Some of the crosses were made of wood, others made of iron. The Chief's stone was made of white marble. Beautiful. And there was one gravestone simply made of concrete, with small decorative beads all around - that was all that the family had, yet they created a beautiful cross with a hand-written inscription.

My heart broke, faced with the simplicity of feeling, of honour, of rememberance.

When we drove past this graveyard an hour later (after our visit to Skookumchuck) we noticed that there were beautiful fresh cut flowers placed on some of the graves. Although this graveyard appears isolated and separated from the rest of the town, it is still visited and protects the remains of people who are remembered and well loved.

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