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St. Anastasia Cemetery celebrates 100 years of fond memories

| 16 Apr 2013 | 09:45
    The St. Patrick Cremation Garden will incorporate a granite columbarium for cremation inurnments, family estate areas for above-ground entombment and memorial gardens for in-ground inurnment. These areas are open for all Catholics wishing to select a sacred resting place.
    The St. Patrick Cremation Garden will incorporate a granite columbarium for cremation inurnments, family estate areas for above-ground entombment and memorial gardens for in-ground inurnment. These areas are open for all Catholics wishing to select a sacred resting place.
    The St. Joseph section at St. AnastasiaþÄôs cemetery runs parallel to Main Street in Harriman and will provide 600 new traditional grave spaces and 80 urn spaces in a contemplative park-like setting.
    The St. Joseph section at St. AnastasiaþÄôs cemetery runs parallel to Main Street in Harriman and will provide 600 new traditional grave spaces and 80 urn spaces in a contemplative park-like setting.
    Photo by MJ Goff Cathie Rahon, cemetery sexton for St. Anastasia, has been visiting local organizations, sharing information on the options at St. Anastasiaís Cemetery. If any group wishes to have Rahon visit to review the new burial options, contact the parish office at 238-2844. Here she stands in the St. Patrick Section which parallels Route 17M.
    Photo by MJ Goff Cathie Rahon, cemetery sexton for St. Anastasia, has been visiting local organizations, sharing information on the options at St. Anastasiaís Cemetery. If any group wishes to have Rahon visit to review the new burial options, contact the parish office at 238-2844. Here she stands in the St. Patrick Section which parallels Route 17M.

HARRIMAN — Among the many improvements made at the 114-year old St. Anastasia Church in Harriman is a refurbishing of the church proper, the grounds and the rectory, but also an expansion of the parish’s cherished 100-year old cemetery.

To commemorate the centennial, a souvenir journal with 100 family stories about the souls buried within the cemetery’s boundaries between 17M and North Main Street in Harriman was published.

Where we came from
These tender memories are also the history of all of us, from Word War II veterans to transplants from the Bronx, Queens and Brooklyn; the stories are poignant; some are filled with humor, but all remind us of the kind of people we came from. Copies of the journal are available for $5 at the church office.

Among the stories includes one by Sister Mary Rose, Director of St. Anastasia’s Religious Education Center. In the essay, she writes about her parents, James and Katherine Mullervy, immigrants from Ireland who met after each arrived by boat from County Longford. Her father became a chauffeur for a railway company and mom answered the call for workers during World War II.

“She was ‘Rosie the Riverter’ assembling airplane parts,” wrote Sister Mary Rose.

Sharon Jolly wrote about visiting her husband Michael’s site every anniversary. On one occasion, she brought her grandson who, when seeing a family member start digging into the ground to plant a pot of mums, got all excited and asked, “Are you digging grandpa out?”

On the day the cemetery was to have been blessed by Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Archbishop of New York, Hurricane Sandy interrupted the trip, but St. Anastasia’s pastor, the Rev. Michael F. Keane, tried to fill the Cardinal’s shoes.

“This was an extraordinary day in the history of St. Anastasia,” Keane recalled, “to be able to bless the many souls buried in the cemetery, among them war veterans and residents of the community who helped build the parish.”

St. Anastasia Cemetery has served the community of faith since 1912 and has been the central Catholic cemetery for southern Orange County.

Expansion
The expanded section, called St. Joseph’s section, will be traditional burial space for Catholics.

The new cremation garden called St. Patrick’s section is also open to all Catholics with three different burial options for the cremated remains of loved ones.

The Trinity Columbarium offers an above-ground inurnment and two in-ground inurnment.

St. Anastasia R.C. Church is located at 21 North Main Street, Harriman. For more information, log on to SaintAnastasiaChurch.org.


By MJ Goff