Publication: Telegram and Gazette
Author: Kim Ring
Publication Date: November 13, 2009
Good article on understanding residency requirements for certain cemeteries as well as rules and regulations surrounding approved monument sizes and types.
Article Excerpt:
Friends for 25 years, local businessmen Douglas J. Kruzewski and Joseph J. Spadea of West Brookfield figured they’d spend the afterlife as they’ve spent much of their time on Earth — as neighbors.
The men, in 1994, bought 64 cemetery plots in Brookfield. They chose an area carved out in a newer section of the historic cemetery. They paid $2,575 for each plot, and for more than a decade — with the exception of Mr. Spadea’s acquisition of an ornate tombstone — thought little about their purchases.
But a judge will now decide whether their plan was etched in stone or if the town’s Cemetery Commission has a right to buy back the plots after learning the men don’t reside in Brookfield.
Yesterday, the men testified they had no idea cemetery plots were reserved for residents of Brookfield. They said they’d been taking a walk back in 1994 when then-Cemetery Superintendent Harvey Bennett, now deceased, stopped them and asked if they’d be interested in buying plots.
They bought the plots for themselves and their families, who they say are so close they consider one another kin.