The Memorial Garden & Columbarium

The Greenville UU Fellowship’s Memorial Garden and Columbarium are available to members (and others as described in the Memorial Garden Policy) for scattering or inurnment, and the services of the Minister are available for memorial services and scattering/inurnments.

Memorial Garden Forms & Policies

Information here		 Making Arrangements for Yourself or Your Loved One

The Columbarium contains private niches for the inurnment of cremains. The central portion contains Memorial Plaques to remember those special members who are departed but not in our Garden.

Each niche contains space for up to three average size urns, and the space can serve as a family vault. The niche door will be engraved with the names and dates of those inurned within. The rights to use Columbarium niches can be purchased in advance.

Applications for placement of cremains in the Scatter Garden and for placement in the Columbarium are available through links on this page.
You may also contact the Fellowship Administrator to receive a complete folder with the forms.

For questions or to apply for placement of cremains in the Memorial Garden, please contact a Memorial Garden Committee member.

To schedule a visit with the Minister to discuss memorial service plans in advance of your own death or on behalf of a deceased family member, please contact the Office to schedule.

History of the Memorial Garden & Columbarium

Shortly after the Fellowship settled on the State Park Road campus in 1995, a Memorial Garden was established with a Scatter Garden for our departed members and other eligible individuals who wished to have their cremains placed there.

The Scatter Garden consists of a bordered, pebble covered area with a large headstone where bronze plaques are mounted. The plaques are engraved with the name of the deceased, along with date of birth and date of death, and an optional third line that the family can select. Gil Rowland, one of the Fellowship’s founding members, was the first person whose cremains were scattered in the Garden.

Over the years, there was growing interest to add a columbarium, and one was constructed in 2009. A labyrinth, based on the Chartres Cathedral model in France, was added in 2013 as a place for spiritual centering.

The Scatter Garden was redesigned and rebuilt in 2016 with new landscaping to create a more intimate space for reflection and contemplation. By 2018, the face of the Scatter Garden headstone was almost completely covered with plaques, and a second headstone was added.

The Memorial Garden Committee is responsible for the management and care of the Memorial Garden, and for managing the life stories and biographical information of deceased members on the Fellowship’s website. The Memorial Garden Committee is a subcommittee of the Fellowship’s Building and Grounds Committee and consists of at least three members approved by the Building and Grounds Committee.