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CHICAGO
— About once a month,
Carl and Ann Christoff
visit the cemetery where Mindy and Buttons are buried.
As Carl
clips and sweeps grass around their graves, his wife
uses vinegar to wash bird droppings off the marble
headstones. Before they go, they leave decorations:
flowers, an angel statue or a small Christmas tree.
This is
no ordinary burial ground. Mindy and Buttons, two Shih
Tzus who died in 1990 and 2005, are among more than
15,000 pets — including dogs, cats, deer, lizards,
turtles, rodents, monkeys and a 3-foot shark — buried
at
Hinsdale Animal Cemetery
, one of the nation's oldest.
To the
Christoffs, of
Oak Brook, Ill.
, these were no ordinary pets. "At one time, every
one of the animals meant so much, and brought so much
joy into one's life,"
Ann Christoff
said.
Just how
much they meant to their owners is evident from the
epitaphs. "Our Dear Pet," "Gentle
Giant" and "Loyal Friend" are common
headstone inscriptions. A mausoleum adorned with a dog
sculpture reads: "He gave up his life that a human
might live. Greater love hath no man."
"You
walk through and read the inscriptions on the headstones
and some will make you laugh, some will make you cry and
some will make you think," said
Bill Remkus
, whose family has owned the
Hinsdale
animal cemetery for four generations. "You can
almost understand the story."
Michael Schaffer
, author of the book "One Nation Under Dog,"
said he has noticed the messages on pet epitaphs have
evolved over time, reflecting how many people have
promoted their pets to "full-fledged members of the
family."
"If
you visit old pet cemeteries, the oldest headstones
might say 'Here lies Fido, a loyal servant,' or 'Here
lies Fido, man's best friend,'" said Schaffer.
"Nowadays it's 'My little girl,' or 'Mommy and
Daddy miss you.' People have developed a conception of
their pets as children. That is quite a dramatic
development."
Remkus
said he did not think the feelings people have for their
pets have changed, but instead, modern society has
become more accepting of people who love their pets and
considered them family.
"Years
ago, if you buried your pet in a pet cemetery it would
be seen as eccentric," he said. "That's not
how it's seen today. Now it is just another way to
memorialize."
Hinsdale
is not a celebrity pet cemetery, although guide dogs for
blind author
Bernice Clifton
of
Oak Park
, who died in 1985, are buried here. Rather, the
cemetery, established in 1926, is a memorial to many
pets who faithfully serve their owners, asking little in
return.
The
cemetery offers a variety of funeral packages. For about
$50
, pet owners can purchase a "memorial
cremation" — in which a pet's ashes are mixed
with those of other pets and scattered across the
cemetery grounds. For about
$2,000
, they can buy an oak casket with a vault and marble
headstone.
Despite
the recession, business at
Hinsdale Animal Cemetery
has remained steady, although Remkus' son, Jonathan, has
noticed more "memorial cremations," which he
said are "a more economical way for a pet to still
be taken care of in a reverent manner."
Still,
when it comes to finding a proper burial for man's best
friend, money is usually not a factor. "People who
are going to take care of their pets are going to do so,
whether or not they are employed or unemployed,"
Jonathan Remkus
said.
Or if
they just spent more than
$7,000
on medical bills trying to save their pet's life, as
Ernie Yamich
did this summer. Despite the high costs of sending
Bogart, his 11-year-old German shepherd, to the
emergency room, Yamich said he did not think twice about
spending
$2,100
on funeral arrangements for "my first born."
"He
was our baby," said Yamich, 30, a heavy equipment
operator for the
City of Chicago
. "You wouldn't do any less to a human, even in a
recession."
While
some owners are content to simply bury their pets at the
cemetery, others go further. Several people have been
buried with their pets at
Hinsdale Animal Cemetery
. And a few people who did not have pets buried there
simply chose the cemetery as their final resting place
"because they felt it was a happy place,"
Jonathan Remkus
said.
Carol Szabo
of
Naperville, Ill.
, spent
$160
for a private cremation to ensure the ashes she received
from the
Hinsdale
crematory belonged to Teddy, her uncle's beloved Shih-Tzu.
Her family planned to mix Teddy's remains with those of
her uncle,
Raymond Beranek
, who died recently, then bury them at
St. Casimir Catholic Cemetery
in
Chicago
.
"I'm
trying to do right by my uncle and do right by the
dog," she said.
Sometimes,
it is easier to do so for the dog, like when it comes to
cemetery maintenance, some owners say. When
Joyce Koziel
of
Frankfort, Ill.
, visited her grandparents' graves this summer in
Alsip, Ill.
, her brother had to use a string trimmer to uncover
their gravestones, she said.
On the
other hand, the graves of her Labrador and a
Labrador/terrier mix, Sweetness and Brandon, are in
immaculate shape at
Hinsdale Animal Cemetery
, she said.
"What
gets me a little angry is the pet cemetery is in better
shape than where my family is buried," she said.
While the
owners of
Hinsdale Animal Cemetery
can be credited for this, the pristine condition of many
headstones also may be due to regular visits from people
like the Christoffs, who view washing the headstones of
Buttons and Mindy as a way of expressing gratitude.
"This
is the reward they get from their owners for being great
companions,"
Ann Christoff
said.
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