Affidavit for the Collection of Personal Property - The Affidavit for Collection of Personal Property form is a legal document that allows a person entitled to receive the rights of a gravesite from a deceased family member to transfer those rights to another family member. Signature must be notarized.
Cenotaph - A monument or memorial to someone buried elsewhere.
Columbarium/Columbaria niche - Designed for containers with cremated remains (cremains). A colum-barium is constructed of numerous small compartments (niches) designed to hold urn(s) containing cre-mated remains (cremains. These are above-ground 3-level rows. At Grandview and Roselawn, a granite niche door engraved with the name of the deceased is included in the cost.
Cremation - More than half of the final arrangements today involve cremation. The cremated remains ashes (cremains) may be scattered, buried in the ground, placed in a columbarium niche, or kept at home. Some cemeteries permit more than one container in a regular grave, or sell small, less expensive plots in a special cremains section.
Crypt - An above-ground chamber in a mausoleum for entombment of a casket. At Grandview there are options for one or two caskets. Cover door engraving is included in price.
Disinterment - Disinterment is the removal of the casket or cremains container containing human re-mains from a grave or niche. Laws governing disinterment vary by state or province. Disinterment may be ordered by certain public officials without the consent of the grave owner or the next of kin, for ex-ample, as part of a police investigation. Individuals or families may also request disinterment, if for ex-ample they would like to have the human remains relocated to another grave in the cemetery, to a mau-soleum or possibly shipped to a country of birth or other cemetery. Disinterment requires the grave to be opened.
Double Depth - A single (adult) grave site that can accommodate two full caskets, one on top of the other with space between for packed in gravel and dirt.
Green Burial - Green (or natural) burial emphasizes simplicity and environmental sustainability. The body is neither cremated nor prepared with chemicals such as embalming fluids. It is simply placed in a biodegradable coffin or shroud and interred without a concrete burial vault. The grave site is allowed to return to nature. The goal is complete decomposition of the body and its natural return to the soil. Only then can a burial truly be “ashes to ashes, dust to dust,” a phrase so often used when we bury our dead.
Headstone/Monument/Memorial/Marker/Tombstone - A stone (granite in most cases) set up at the head of a grave, typically inscribed with the name of the deceased person. See Rules and Regulations for more information. There are several different types used in our cemeteries: 1) First headstone - can be a monument on base, a monolith, a wedge or a flat on foundation. This depends on which section of the cemetery the grave is located in; 2) Second headstone or first in certain sections is a Grass/flush marker, flat set even with the grass.
Mausoleum - Above-ground buildings where a casket is placed in a crypt with a granite door engraved with the name of the deceased, at no additional cost. This option is available only at Grandview. The mausoleum also has niches for entombment of one or two cremains urns.
Opening/Closing (OC) -The charges to dig the grave and fill it back in once the casket or urn is placed. If you entomb the casket or urn in a mausoleum space, this charge also applies. Opening/closing charges are not included in the cost of the right of interment. That means if you “bought a grave,” even many years ago, you or your survivors will likely have to pay an additional opening/closing fee. (At Grandview/Roselawn Cemetery Opening and Closing also includes set up for a burial or entombment.)
Ossuary - An in-ground vault for the cremated remains of the deceased.
Perpetual Care (PC) - Most states require cemeteries to deposit a percentage of every sale into a maintenance fund to ensure upkeep of the grounds and the graves over the yearsi. Perpetual care funds are used for general maintenance and repair of cemetery grounds. For example, mowing and lawn care during the growing season would fall under perpetual care, as would upkeep of roads, paths and sign-age. Not included is general maintenance of the headstone or vase since that is the property of the Rights Holder. Families are responsible for the care of family plantings and decorations.
Rights of Interment (ROI) - What most people would call “the grave site.” When you “buy a grave,” you haven’t bought a piece of property like the land your house sits on; you’ve bought the right to be buried in a particular space (whether that’s a full-body grave, a smaller space for cremated remains (cremains), or a slot in a columbarium or mausoleum). (At Grandview/Roselawn Cemetery, Rights also give you the option to decide who else can be buried there or to place a headstone on the site.)
Transfer Form - A legal form that allows a rights holder to transfer those rights to another person. Signa-ture must be notarized.
Vault - Also known as an “outer burial container” or “grave-liner” these are boxes for your casket or cre-mains urn. Made of concrete, steel or lightweight fiberglass-type materials, they are placed in the grave before the casket is lowered inside. Grandview & Roselawn Cemeteries require a vault for a casket bur-ial. They’re designed to prevent the ground from sinking as the casket deteriorates over time, making it easier to mow the grass with heavy equipment. The funeral director will usually order the vault and ar-range for the vault company to install it for the burial.