Cemetery offers expanded burial options

After Tuesday, Newton citizens will have a more economical way of burying their loved ones at the Newton Union Cemetery.

The cemetery has just finished installing a new columbarium, which weighs 20,000 pounds and cost $26,500, on its grounds which is a burial receptacle that resides above the ground with niches inside it. The cemetery already has one columbarium on it’s ground, but it only has four niches left for the remains of loved ones.

The old columbarium only has single niches while the new columbarium has double niches as well. The new one also has 120 niches in it.

“This way if people are cremated and are husband and wife and want to be buried together, they can be,” Cemetery Superintendent Jim Kling said.

Columbariums are more economical because loved ones do not have to pay for a burial lot, a ground burial or a headstone.

Right now, the columbariums’ niches are priced at $1,250, but Kling said the Public Works Department is considering lowering that price. The installation on Tuesday was the first that Kling had ever seen.

“I think it’ll be nice when it gets done,” he said. “It’s one more burial option.”

Staff writer Dave Hon may be contacted at (641) 792-3121, ext. 425, or at dhon@newtondailynews.com.