Over one hundred years ago, Duncan Inglish was laid to rest in Prince Rupert’s Fairview Cemetery. Inglish was the first person to be buried at the site way back in December of 1911, which has became the laying spot for countless others over the past one hundred years.
To celebrate the lives of those buried at Fairview, two groups in town have joined together to host an event on Cemetery Day.
Last year, the Prince Rupert Cemetery Advisory Committee, a group that aims to get the community more involved in ongoing work to improve the cemetery, requested to have the City name May 1 as Cemetery Day in Prince Rupert. Council agreed to the request, and proclaimed it as a day to remember and honour the memories of former family and community members last year.
Like last year, the Cemetery Advisory Committee and the Prince Rupert Genealogy Club will join together in celebration of the day, and host an event at the Fairview Cemetery, this time on Tuesday, May 1, from four p.m. to eight p.m.
The Genealogy Club was started decades ago, with the aim of helping people find their long-lost relatives. The club is responsible for recording and posting several thousand of Fairview’s plots to the City’s website, as well as the popular website findagrave.com.
At the event there will be a tour of some of the older graves sites in Fairview Cemetery, as well as musical entertainment provided by the Community Band around 6:45 p.m.
People in attendance can also choose to help clean up Block K of Fairview Cemetery, with the help of Cemetery Advisory Committee and Genealogy Club members.
“There’s quite a few graves there that haven’t been uncovered for a number of years, with moss grown over and the headstones sunk. We’re trying [change] that, so hopefully they will be uncovered for awhile,” said long-time committee and club member Barb Shepherd.
Additionally, a quiz that can be done at the event is available for the public at the Prince Rupert Archives located in the bottom of City Hall. This quiz will include hints on certain grave plots, as well as a map, with people participating having to find out the names of the people.