A delegation of Royal Canadian Mounted Police visited Wrangell last month in search of one of their colleagues, a constable killed in a boating accident near the island over a century ago.
Constable Spencer Heathcote was a member of RCMP's Yukon District, Stikine Detachment, and was on patrol with two other constables when he died on Dec. 26, 1901. On patrol, the constables' boat was swamped in a gale when crossing over to Wrangell Island, and Heathcote perished along with Constable Norman Campbell.
Though nearly succumbing to hypothermia, the third, Constable Michael Fitzgerald, survived the sinking along with four of the team's sled dogs. While Campbell was never found, the body of Heathcote was located by two Native fishermen five months after the disaster and buried in Wrangell.
Both Campbell and Heathcote are the only two members on the RCMP's Honour Roll known to have died outside of Canada in the line of duty but have not been memorialized. The department is interested in setting up a cairn or memorial marker in Wrangell bearing the names of both constables, with a ceremony to possibly coincide with an annual remembrance event this upcoming or next September.
While it is known Heathcote was interred in Wrangell, the city was unable to locate the constable's gravesite when the deputy commissioner of Correctional Service of Canada (Pacific), Peter German, visited on May 22. Part of the problem stems from spotty recordkeeping at the time, but it is also possible the grave was either not marked with a headstone or had fallen into disrepair over the following century.
Borough Clerk Kim Lane explained Memorial Cemetery has a number of unknown graves dating from Wrangell's early history, some recorded under monickers like “Unknown Soldier” and “Too Small.”
Even plots previously thought vacant have turned out to have remains buried therein, exacerbating another issue the city has already been dealing with in recent years. Put simply, its two cemeteries are running out of space.
Memorial and Sunset Gardens cemeteries together currently have only 24 unreserved plots available for purchase, with another 40 niches in Sunset Gardens' columbarium available for cremated remains. Memorial Cemetery has 47 other plots that are vacant but reserved, though some of these may never be filled.
Lane explained some of the reserved plots had been purchased years or even decades before for future family blocks, but some of the families intended for burial there have since moved. The city has made some attempts to determine which may be available to buy back, but it can be a sensitive subject to broach.
“It's a touchy issue,” she said.
Other communities in Southeast have been facing a similar problem, and have approached it in different ways.
In Ketchikan, City Clerk Katy Suiter explained a lack of burial space had become a concern a few years ago. But with the addition of new plots, more crypts and niches, Suiter estimated the life of Ketchikan's cemetery may have been extended by another twenty years.
“We had more land attached to our cemetery property that was available to develop,” she said.
Due to marshy soil and topographical limitations, land development is not always an option.
Donnie Hayes of Petersburg Parks and Recreation explained his community is currently building four columbariums, each with 80 niches that can hold one or two urns. The project should be completed by the end of August and may help alleviate a trend in having remains cremated yet having the ashes interred in full plots.
The Fort Richardson and Sitka national cemeteries' director, Virginia Walker, explained a columbarium wall was built two years ago, adding about 500 niches. Development of another acre of space and the addition of double-depth concrete crypts have also helped fill the cemeteries' needs.
“We have extended the life of the cemetery maybe another hundred years,” she said. While Walker has also noted cremation has been an increasing trend, people still seem to be having difficulty opting for a niche instead of a plot. Due to space constraints however, she said within the next five years that may no longer be a choice.
Space is not an issue for all, though. Craig Clerk Kassi Bateman said her community still has some space left in its cemetery. Though the potential need to expand was brought before the council six months ago, the need there is not pressing.
In Wrangell there are several unsurveyed areas in and adjacent to its current cemeteries, but at the moment the city has not looked into developing them for funerary use.
“We've talked about it but we haven't gotten there yet,” Lane said.
But time may be as limited a commodity as space. According to state census data, since 1999 the Wrangell-Petersburg area regularly experiences an average of from 40 to 50 deaths each year.
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