Pet-Rest Gardens offers Oxford citizens first local pet cemetery
September 17, 2003
by Jennifer Gruich
The Daily Mississippian
A new resting place for man's best friend is
under construction in Oxford and is set to open Nov. 1.
The new Pet-Rest Gardens will be the only perpetual pet care
cemetery in Oxford to provide final resting care for deceased
pets.
Owner Glenn Coleman said he is excited about
the future prospects of the pet cemetery to provide pet funeral
services to Oxford and surrounding areas inside Lafayette
County. The Gardens will be located on Hurricane Lane
Road, or 56 CR 178, between old Highway 7 North and new Highway
7 North.
"The pet cemetery idea is something that is
very uncommon around this area, it's something new, and we're
excited about it," Coleman said. "It is new territory for
everybody." Coleman also said his service is extremely
helpful for people who might otherwise be forced to bury their
pets in the backyard because the cemetery supplies them with the
space and means to do so.
" It's a sweet thing to do for a family pet,"
said Emily Deloach, an education major from Nashville. "But it
is kind of strange."
Though a pet cemetery is not an option that
many people may consider, it is an idea that some may want to
think about. "I would consider burying my pet there," said
Bryan Krutz, a business studies major from Jackson. "I had
a lab die a year ago and had to bury her out on our land."
The idea of a pet cemetery came to Coleman as he became
interested in the funeral business. "It's basically a
combination of two things I really like to do, work with animals
and funeral service," Coleman said. Coleman is a 2002
graduate of Ole Miss and attended mortuary school at Northwest
Community College in Southaven.
Pet-Rest Gardens is expected to be open and
fully operational by late fall of this year. The cemetery
will provide two acres of cemetery grounds plus certain areas
that they have marked for future development. The grounds
will contain a paved walking path, an outside pavilion for
services and a motorized cart for transportation of the animal
to its resting place. The Gardens will also provide
memorial services, open casket viewing, lawn burial, cremation,
granite and bronze markers, pet caskets and urns.
"What I try to emphasize is that there is not
one way to do a funeral," Coleman said. "We cater to what
the family wants to do and however they choose to memorialize
their pet."
Prices for burial vary from $100 to $650,
depending on weight and size of the animal and the care package
choices, which range from a direct burial package to a direct
cremation package. Aside from being a cemetery for pets,
Coleman said he hopes the Gardens will also provide an easier
understanding for the concept of death.
"One real good thing about the pet cemetery is
that children are able to understand the whole concept of death
a little better at a younger age when it involves a pet,"
Coleman said. "Losing a pet is almost a preparatory thing
for them. It helps them grow up and understand what death really
is."
The pet cemetery will not be a place for
regular house pets like a dog and cat alone, rather, it will
offer room to accept all types of pets. "Most people think
dog-cat-dog-cat. It's whatever else too, like squirrels, mice,
snakes, fish, birds and pot-bellied pigs," Coleman said.
"Most pets are not going to outlive their human companions, it's
just not going to happen."
The Gardens will also provide a public place
for people to visit their pets if they are ever forced to move
away from Oxford. Coleman said the cemetery makes it more
accessible for people to visit their pets if they leave, instead
of having to go back to their old house and visit.
(From The Daily Mississippian, September
17, 2003)
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