Eickhof Columbaria has been involved in the design, fabrication, and installation of a variety of exterior and interior custom-built columbaria. We are finding that, as the rate of cremation increases, the request for custom-built columbaria is also increasing. We are also finding that these requests are coming from locations that are unexpected. Traditionally, burial has been associated exclusively with cemeteries. Cemeteries were the first major market that Eickhof Columbaria approached with its concealed hardware system and columbarium product. Communities and families have traditionally buried their dead in cemeteries. With the increase in cremation, along with cemetery land area becoming more scarce, forward thinking cemeteries have made plans for exterior custom-built columbaria. Columbarium niches take up far less land and assist the cemetery in providing a burial product that can substitute for the loss of revenue from declining traditional in ground burial.
With cremation, the market for non-traditional burial options has changed dramatically. At one time burial was the exclusive domain of cemeteries. Now, with cremation as a burial option, Eickhof Columbaria has had requests for custom built columbaria at United States military academies, retirement communities, institutions of higher learning, churches, and other types of religious communities.
One example of a non-traditional location for a columbarium is the following retirement community. With its 400 residents on a 50-acre site in northern Colorado, Good Samaritan Village is one of 230 residential communities sponsored by the Good Samaritan Society of the Evangelical Lutheran Church.
Nearing completion is a large Memorial Garden which includes two Eickhof Ely pre-assembled columbarium units, each with 96 - 8"x8"niches for cremains, along with the curved 52-foot Memorial Wall which contains an additional 390 - 8"x8" niches, for a total of 582 niches. Foundations have been laid for five additional pre-assembled units, which will eventually provide for 1,062 - 8"x8" niches. The Memorial Garden, which looks out on a 45-foot reflecting pool, will be completed in June 2009.
The idea for having a columbarium on the grounds of Good Samaritan Village came from the chaplain, now retired, who saw a columbarium as a service to the residents of the 55-plus retirement community and their families. Since there is a chapel where memorial services can be held, it only seemed appropriate to have a place for the interment of ashes for those choosing cremation. The chaplain also saw the sale of niches as a way to establish a permanent fund to support the chapel's ministry to the residents, including its activities and programs.
"The residents and their families are very pleased with having a columbarium on the grounds of the community where they live and have so many friends," says Ted Williams, the Special Project Coordinator who designed and is supervising the construction of the Memorial Garden and the columbarium. Williams has worked closely with the Eickhof team. "They are both very professional and very thorough," says Williams. "The entire garden is going to be a beautiful and serene setting and we appreciate the way the Eickhof people have helped us," adds Williams.
Good Samaritan Village in Loveland offers residents several living options - one and two bedroom apartments and twin (duplex) homes; one and two bedroom assisted living, private, and semi-private healthcare rooms; and an Alzheimer's care facility.
Universities and military academies are finding that, in an era when many people are highly mobile and do not settle in one place for long, an institution of higher learning can have a strong allure as a final resting space. Officials at these colleges point out that the college has a special resonance for many people who have forged life long relationships as students and faculty. People feel very connected to their colleges, many of which have some beautiful spaces on their campus.
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> Churches & Religious Institutions
> Retirement Communities
> Higher Learning Institutions
> Government Institutions
