Council wants ‘uniform, neat and clean’ niches for cremains

It wasn’t quite “Tales From the Crypt,” but things did get a bit macabre Wednesday during a city study session on how to proceed with a proposed columbarium at the Nogales City Cemetery.
Raymond Kory, who donated the engineering for the project now being constructed by city crews, was asked rather indiscreetly by local mortician Tomas Martinez whether he still kept the ashes of a relative who died some time ago inside a plastic box rather than a pricier, more elegant urn.

“Yes, I do,” responded Kory, who is emphatic the city proceed with plans for a one-size-fits-all columbarium, which is a public storage area for cinerary urns.

Kory said he had yet to find an appropriate urn for his relative.

But Martinez said he was trying to show that family members should have the option of larger, decorative spaces for their loved ones’ final resting place.

In a moment of levity, he said: “For example, if I want to bury my wife (while she’s still alive) I would want something better than a plastic box.”

He and Ron Adair, of Adair’s Carroon Mortuary Chapel, argued that the city should not impede or compete in their private enterprise by limiting the size and types of urns they can offer families. They suggested the columbarium be designed to accommodate “drawers” for varied urn dimensions instead of Kory’s proposed size of five inches by eight inches.

But Kory was unmoved, pushing for uniformity that would allow for 2,940 compartments rather than a mixed design.

“I strongly recommend you not do that; don’t differentiate between the millionaire and the pauper,” he told the council.

“I recommend the city not privatize it because it’s basically zero maintenance,” he said of the project, noting that it would generate substantial revenues if each is sold at a suggested $1,000.

Mayor Octavio Garcia-Von Borstel said he preferred the “uniform, neat and clean” niches Kory suggested. He polled the council, which unanimously agreed.

“No,” said Councilman Nubar Hanessian to Adair’s suggestion of a mixed–use design. “Then you’ll get into and east-side, west-side story” where the rich are in one section and the less wealthy on another.

Councilman Ramon Felix said families still have the option of purchasing more elaborate urns for wake or church viewing, and the cremains can then be transferred to the “box.”

Councilwoman Olga Valdez said, “Why do we want a gold box. It’s not like we’re going to be brought back.”

The matter was referred to staff to come up with a final recommendation.

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