At the back of the cemetery is a bluff overlooking Bargain Bay. That’s what prompted Brenda Scoular to tackle the problem.
“The fence is where it started,” said Scoular, 77, who was born and raised in Pender Harbour and whose relatives are buried there. On her regular visits to Forest View Cemetery off Warnock Road, she noticed the deteriorating conditions of the fence that protected the area’s only active cemetery. “It really was in shambles,” she said.
The one-acre property was overgrown with brambles, the fencing had deteriorated and precarious trees threatened some of the structures. In one instance, a large alder fell and broke off the corner of her cousin’s headstone. “It’s a place for loved ones to rest, and every time I walked by with my little dog I would look at it and think, something needs to be done.”
Martha and Martin Warnock donated the cemetery in 1933 in memory of their young son, who was buried there. “They stipulated that it was to be kept in the family,” Scoular said. Today, the Warnocks’ grandchildren maintain the legally-sanctioned cemetery as trustees, but “there was never enough money coming in to be able to do what needed to be done for the upkeep,” Scoular said.
In 2017 Scoular, with the help of other concerned residents, got the ball rolling. Leonard Lee, now Sunshine Coast Regional District director for Area A, and who was a member of the Pender Harbour Living Heritage Society at the time, ran into the grandson of Al Lloyd, “a Pender Harbour old timer” according to Scoular, who ran businesses and raised his family there. After speaking with him about the need for new fencing, the grandson offered, “out of the blue,” to supply it.
The Pender Harbour Heritage Society partnered with Scoular to assist with administering donations and grants, while other community members came out of the woodwork to assist with clean up. So far, approximately $3,000 has been raised – enough to remove the blackberry bushes, install the fencing, rebuild a gate, and install a water station so residents can clean the headstones and fill flower vases.
Over the course of their work, the volunteers discovered they didn’t know the boundaries of the cemetery, which required them to conduct a land survey. That in turn led to the discovery that some people are partially interred on a road right of way, according to Lee. They have submitted a request to the transportation ministry to ask that the fence be allowed to remain on the road right of way. “They are very understanding and are cooperating and the society is hoping to have the permit in hand shortly,” Lee told Coast Reporter.
Installing a memorial wall is the next step, as is installing markers on the gravesites where the names etched in stone and wood are deteriorating. “There’s quite a few of them,” said Scoular, who said some of the people buried don’t have head stones. More volunteers will be needed, as are funds to pay for the wall and ongoing maintenance.
“It makes me happy to go by there now and see the fence up and everything cleaned up,” Scoular said. “Pender Harbour is still Pender Harbour. People are willing to help.”
And more help is expected for another cemetery located in Garden Bay. Lee said that one is also badly overgrown. “[It] will be a big job, but we intend to get to it,” Lee said. Kleindale Cemetery, the area’s third cemetery, was never legally sanctioned and because of that was officially closed in 1982, though it continues to be maintained by the Sunshine Coast Regional District.
Another unexpected benefit of the Forest View refurbishment is that the word is spreading and people are purchasing plots. “I’m not sure if we’ve got many more plots left in there, but it’s getting full!” Scoular said.
