Columbarium Update

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The Columbarium Project is moving forward. The hold-up has been in securing a contractor to take it on and we are now on our third contractor. The builders in town are extremely busy and don’t want to commit to a small job like this. Right now, we are just waiting for this latest contractor to get back to us with a bid so that we have an idea of what this project will cost. Once that happens, we can get started.

A columbarium is a set of niches that hold cremated remains—kind of like post office boxes. The FPC columbarium will be located on the west side of the church in the upper parking lot centered on the old Bellwood Bell. On each side of the bell will be a brick wall containing 42 niches (84 total).

The building process will go in three stages:

  1. The contractor will do all the necessary grading to the site and remove part of the parking lot. They will then pour 2 low concrete walls on each side of the bell—the foundation for the columbarium.
  2. The company that is building the niches (Eickoff) will begin fabrication. When they are complete, they will send a crew down to fasten the niche structure to the low walls.
  3. The contractor will return and add bricks around the niches. The bricks will match the bricks on the church.

We don’t yet know how much we will charge for each niche. Whatever the price, it will be far less than a cemetery burial.

We will keep you updated on all progress.

Below are some photos with comments.

This is a sample of a niche. The front of each niche is 8 inches by 8 inches. It holds 2 metal containers for ashes for 2 people.

Here, you can see the locking mechanism for each niche. To open a niche requires a special “key.”

Below is a sample of the granite face plate that goes on each niche. These are blank until they are needed. The granite we’ve selected is the black and white piece at the bottom. This sample is in the church office if you would like to look at it.

Finally, below is a photo of a columbarium to give you a rough idea of what the FPC columbarium will look like. Instead of a cross at the center, there will be the Bellwood bell. We will have only one section on each side, not two. We will also heavily landscape behind the columbarium to provide a screen from Main Street.