By Kathryn Bursch, Tampa Bay’s 10 News
Glendale, Florida – As John Wilkerson walks across the land he grew up on, he still marvels at its beauty. “Oh it is beautiful… look around,” says John Wilkerson of the Glendale Memorial Nature Preserve.And on this hike, Wilkerson is looking for a resting place; not just any spot mind you, but his final resting place. Wilkerson says, “well eventually, somebody will dig a hole and put me in it.”
You see, in an effort to carry out a promise to his parents to never develop this property, Wilkerson turned over the land to a not-for-profit group and he’s now turning the family farm into what’s called a green cemetery.
“Try to become one with nature again, without a lot of steel and chemicals,” says Wilkerson. The Glendale Memorial Nature Preserve is about 350 acres of panhandle pine and pond and about 70 acres has been set aside for the green cemetery.
Among those already interred here is Henry Dell. The sturdy brick layer wanted a back to basics burial.”He didn’t want to be embalmed or anything or be cut on. He wanted an old-fashioned burial, so that was the perfect place to get buried,” says Kevin Dell whose grandfather is buried at Glendale.
Pensacola painter Diana Barnes is often inspired by nature. So this artist, who in life so often paints greenery, in death, wants to be kind to the earth. And she’s already picked out a spot at Glendale. Says Barnes, “I think it’s the most natural way to be buried. Why would you want to be embalmed?”
When the time comes, it will only cost Barnes’ family only $1,000 to bury her at Glendale. And so her kids won’t have to worry about a thing, a bookcase in Barnes’ home will serve a dual purpose.
“and I fit right in there, if I don’t get any fatter,” says Barnes.
Coffins aren’t required at Glendale, but if you want one it must be biodegradable.
While quite common in England, Glendale is one of only a handful of green cemeteries in the United States and so far only 13 bodies are buried there. But once more people know about this option, Wilkerson is confident green burial will catch on.
And long after Wilkerson has seen his last sunset, he expects Glendale Memorial Nature Preserve to live on.
John Wilkerson of the Glendale Memorial Nature Preserve says, “it should look like it did before the white man got here.”
Source - http://www.tampabays10.com/printfullstory.aspx?storyid=49654