312 FILLMORE STREET, STATEN ISLAND, NY 10301    PHONE: 718-447-2204
LINKTREE: ​linktr.ee/unitarianchurchofstatenisland
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MEMORIAL GARDEN—INTERMENT,

​remembrance & CONTEMPLATION

For many years members and friends of the Unitarian Church of Staten Island considered establishing a Memorial Garden. On October 29, 2000, by a unanimous vote at a congregational meeting, the Church decided to create a Memorial Garden on the recently acquired grounds adjacent to the Fellowship Hall
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The circular Memorial Garden is wheelchair accessible and provides benches for sitting and contemplation.
The Garden is a place of beauty and tranquility where we can honor the memory of friends and family members. It embraces a Circle of Remembrance, planted with lilyturf and surrounded by a spiral walkway, in which cremains (ashes) are buried in biodegradable containers. This area is nestled among new and mature plants.

Benches offer a serene place for meditation, set apart by shrubbery. The liquid murmur of a fountain completes the solitude. The names of those who are interred in the Circle of Remembrance and other church friends, members and family are memorialized in the Garden.

​We are fortunate that renowned landscape architect and long-term Church member Bradford Greene has devoted his talents to the design of this Garden.

Interment Procedures
The Memorial Garden is a long-term repository for the ashes of Unitarian Church of Staten Island members and others.
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People who have been members of the Church for at least three months have the rights to be interred. Others whose ashes may be interred in the Memorial Garden must have one of these relationships with a Church member:
  • Spouse or significant partner (as defined by New York State insurance requirements)
  • Child or grandchild
  • Sister or brother
  • Parent or grandparent
  • In-laws or step-relatives
The Church member himself or herself, the executor of the will, spouse, or aclose family member may make the request to inter ashes.

Requirements
The following must be received before ashes can be interred in the Memorial Garden:
  • A copy of the death certificate
  • Basic biographical information about the deceased
  • Payment of the current rate for interment
A "Right to Interment" may be purchased in advance at the current rate. Contact the minister to make plans for funeral or memorial services in advance. You may contact the Memorial Garden Committee if you wish to commit the ashes of someone who does not fall into the above categories or to request modified financial arrangements based on need.

Gifts & Fees
​The current rates for remembrance, interment or the future right to remembrance or interment are:
  • $1,000 for UCSI members
  • $1,500 for non-members

​Please contact the office to make arrangements.

GALLERY 

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During our annual service of remembrance, members of the church and their families are invited to bring up photos and mementos of their loved ones.
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Joan Pipkins and Carol Lodato, founding members of the Memorial Garden, read the names of UCSI members whose cremains are interred in the Memorial Garden.
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A memorial service held in the Garden, on the occasion of remembrance of the victims of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
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Accessible path leading to the circular Memorial Garden.
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We are handicapped accessible.