Waiting for Eternity: Burials on Hold at Two Connecticut Cemeteries

The Burdick family’s roots run deep in Brookfield. Generations of them are buried in Laurel Hill Cemetery with headstones dating back to the 1800s.

“It's been our family cemetery forever. I mean, we grew up knowing that we were going to be buried there,” said Pam Corsinelli, whose father Keith Burdick died on April 6 at age 92.

Keith Burdick was a lifelong resident of Brookfield. He was born in a house just down the road from the cemetery, and later built his own home nearby. Burdick’s children said their grandparents bought plots at Laurel Hill for the entire family decades ago.

A headstone marks the spot of what should be Keith’s final resting place. But as his family started making funeral arrangements, they found out no burials are allowed. That’s because the cemetery hasn’t had an owner since August.

“Whoever heard of closing a cemetery down?” said Keith’s son Mike Burdick.

“His family’s up there. He’s got sons and daughters up there. His wife is up there, but they won’t let [us] dig a hole to put him in the ground,” he said.

In Connecticut, cemeteries can be owned by ecclesiastical societies, municipalities or nonprofit volunteer associations.

Two cemeteries in Brookfield, Lauren Hill Cemetery and Central Cemetery, were run by a volunteer operation until last summer.

With almost 13 acres combined, it’s a huge undertaking. So a few years ago, the association’s members started looking for other options.

“We went up to Hartford and talked to one of the big accounting firms. And they told us flat out the only option in Connecticut is abandonment,” said Jeff Nolan, who was the last remaining member of the Central Cemetery Association until he resigned last year.

NBC Connecticut

Nolan believes the volunteer system is unsustainable and said there is a lack of oversight in the industry as a whole.

“We need continuity over generations. Ad hoc groups of volunteers cannot do that. This is an institutional type requirement, where the contracts, the money, and the interment details have to be looked at in totality, over decades of time,” he said.

Nolan wants to see Connecticut catch up to other states that have modernized their systems, putting records and maps of gravesites online.

He is working with an attorney trying to get a judge to appoint an interim receiver to operate both cemeteries. A complaint was filed in Connecticut Superior Court on April 21 and is pending.

“These are people I know and love that I grew up with. And I want this problem to be fixed in a way that serves the next generations better than the current generations are being served,” he said.

The Burdicks are not the only family in limbo. A local funeral home director tells NBC Connecticut there is another family unable to bury a loved one in Central Cemetery, and several others are waiting for their loved ones’ ashes to be interred.

Current state law does not specifically address the issue of succession for cemetery ownership.

Rep. Marty Foncello (R- Brookfield) believes the state should step in. He introduced HB 5193 which would allow the state to temporarily assume operations of a cemetery until a successor or purchaser is found. The legislation has not advanced.

It’s painful for the Burdick family because Keith, a Korean War veteran, was once a cemetery volunteer himself. His daughter Pam said he had keys to the gate that could now be shut permanently if no one steps up to take over.

“You want to see him in his final resting place. You want to make sure that that happens,” she said.

“He wants to be here. He was born on this road. Lived on this road. He wants to be buried on this road,” said Mike Burdick.