If a graveyard is how the quality of a city is measured, then Stratford is in good hands.
About 90 monuments at Avondale Cemetery have been restored as part of yearly efforts by the City of Stratford to maintain the elder-cemetery.
Quin Malott is the City of Stratford’s parks, forestry, and cemetery manager. He told StratfordToday that an old quote he heard at a convention many years ago has stuck with him.
“You can tell a lot from the city by the way they maintain their cemetery,” he reiterated. “I’ve always tried to keep things in great shape.”
As Malott explained, the Avondale Cemetery is considered a part of Stratford’s parks system, a chapter of the linear park that cuts through the Festival City.
It is a place where residents walk, run, and explore.
With old-growth trees providing cover, and an irregular plotting scheme, the cemetery contains graves as old as Stratford has been incorporated – perhaps even older.
Over time, these memorials have decayed and the foundations have crumbled. Residents on a run might be able to spot a few obelisks leaning at odd angles, for example.
It is these constant degradations that need yearly upkeep and what Malott and his team document. There is a level of liability, in terms of the need for restoring the monuments, but as Malott said it is also done out of respect and responsibility.
Memorial Restorations, a Sarnia-based company specializing in the rehabilitation of old memorials, are contracted by the City to do restoration work.
Tom Klassen, the president of the company, told StratfordToday that he has always wanted to work at Avondale. This year they were lucky to have won the contract and get to work.
Using a concrete substitute for monument restoration, MonuGrid, Klassen and his team have been able to restore 90 monuments in a little over a week – a huge accomplishment.
Although neither Klassen or Malott could say how many monuments using traditional concrete could be done in that amount of time (too many factors), they both indicated that the difference is night and day.
Klassen has been using MonuGrid for over nine years. In that time he has restored thousands of monuments. Perhaps only one had failed.
Recently, memorial vandalism in Mitchell caused a stir in the community, leading to charges being laid on local youth. Although vandalism is something which does occur, Malott said that it is rare and if it does occur they call someone to fix it right away.
The restoration work being done as part of the yearly program is just to upkeep the memorials as they age.
Although a part of the park system, the cemetery is also a source of local history.
On Memorial Restorations’ Twitter page, you can see Klassen and his genealogist document his company’s work, getting an inside look at Canadian history across southwestern Ontario.
One small story uncovered by Klassen’s team is the unadvertised building where Stratford’s first mayor, John Corry Wilson Daly, rests.
We discovered an unmarked building in Avondale Cemetery! Some research revealed it's a notable building connected to the man who played an important role in establishing the city. Watch!#thursdaymorning #stratford pic.twitter.com/Rns9AIBiKy
— Memorial Restoration & Safety (@SafeCemeteries) June 1, 2023
Having seen many of the cemeteries across the province, Klassen says that Avondale is a jewel. When asked how he would measure Stratford’s, Klassen said a nine out of 10.
Malott emphasized that the work done this week is not a one-off. It is a point of pride that Avondale is so well maintained and that requires work.
“This is what the City does,” Malott said.
