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Former Brigham City sexton urges council to preserve cemetery lilacs, offers alternatives to tree removal
Summary
Kathy Wood, a retired Brigham City sexton, told the council she has decades of cemetery experience and urged officials to avoid removing historic lilacs, suggesting mini‑mausoleums and other design changes to extend cemetery life without destroying traditional plantings.
At the Feb. 5 Brigham City meeting, Kathy Wood, a retired Brigham City sexton and former president of the Utah Cemetery Parks Association, asked the council to preserve the cemetery's traditional lilacs and to consider space‑saving alternatives instead of landscaping changes she fears will remove historic plantings.
Wood spoke at length about her experience working in the cemetery since the 1980s, including helping implement the cemetery records system that many Utah towns use. "I started working for Brigham City Cemetery in 1986," she said, describing decades of service and leadership. She recounted how cremations increased demand for the meditation garden and proposed adding mini‑mausoleums that can hold multiple interments in a small footprint as one viable option to extend burial space without removing plantings.
Wood said many community members have asked about the missing lilacs and urged the council to consider replanting or relocating plantings rather than removing them. "Maybe put a committee together that has... retired sextons that have really good ideas about how to extend cemeteries," she said, urging collaborative study before permanent changes.
Council members did not take immediate action on the request during the meeting; Wood's comments were recorded for the public record as part of the public‑comment period.
