Michael Abraham
What do you like to do on your weekends? Many weekends, Jim Lucas and his wife Gail are at their cemetery, conducting burials.
The Lucases opened Memorial Gardens of the New River Valley in Blacksburg, one of the few private cemeteries, 19 years ago. “It’s not common to open a cemetery at all,” he told me. “We’re members of the International Cemetery, Cremation, and Funeral Association. We were at an annual meeting, sharing a meal with other members. A man beside us heard our story and said, ‘Nobody opens a new cemetery. Nobody.’ He was from New Jersey, where there had not been a new cemetery opened in 50 years.”
Jim said most cemetery owners had become so through family legacies. Other cemeteries were municipally owned, like Blacksburg’s Westview Cemetery, or at churches.
“A hundred years ago, it was common for business leaders, for example the local banker, the funeral home director, the druggist, or others to get together and start a cemetery. (Nowadays) there are lots of regulations. Anybody starting a new private cemetery needs to put $50,000 into a perpetual care trust fund. It’s a lot of money and you have to put it up front.”
I teased Jim about this idea, as he’d only given me reasons why not to do it. So why had he and Gail done it?
“We bought some land at the north end of town intending to build a residential subdivision. I knew Blacksburg needed another cemetery, or expand their existing one. We decided to do it. The mayor and town manager were receptive. They helped to re-zone the land and we moved forward.”
It’s a beautiful site, overlooking Brush Mountain where North Main Street merges onto the US 460 bypass. My family buried my father there a year and a half ago.
“We knew one was needed,” He continued. “We wanted to give back to the community. We had no idea how psychologically rewarding it would be.”
Jim is from Newport in Giles County and is the third generation in his family to attend Virginia Tech. He became a developer and real estate appraiser, founding Lucas Real Estate Appraisal Services. He developed the Colony Park commercial office complex where he now has his offices. Yet these businesses never affected him personally like owning a cemetery.
“I never envisioned this being so fulfilling. I laugh with the families. I cry with them. I’ve been involved with burial of family members, friends and people I know. There are many stories of people thanking us for what we’ve done. It’s part of the job. I personally attend most of the burials.
“There’s a difference between a municipal and a privately owned cemetery. At the municipal cemetery, the managers’ job is to fill out the paperwork and dig the grave. We feel a bigger obligation. Cindy (Turner), our family services counselor, is a wonderfully loving, caring person.
“Every burial is sad. They all hurt. Digging the grave. Putting the vault in the ground. Covering it with dirt. It’s very emotional. We’ve buried my dad, my mother in law, my uncle, my cousins, and even your dad, in our cemetery.
“The hardest are the young folks. Children. Babies. Murder victims. Car accident victims. We buried the Tech policeman who was murdered (in 2011), the teenager who was kidnapped and murdered (in 2016), one of the professors killed on April 16 (2007) and many young people who have been killed in accidents, or just died young. All of them are tough.”
The cemetery has sections for first responders and veterans, a University Garden, Methodist and Baptist sections, as well as Jewish and Catholic cemeteries within the larger cemetery, and other sections such as upright granite monument and family estate areas. Almost 50 percent of their interments are cremated, an unusually large number, which Jim attributes to Blacksburg being a transient community and the popularity of cremation in other cultures and other areas of the country.
“I have learned a lot about memorialization and closure. It’s important to people to have closure. People need permanent memorialization; a permanent spot for the deceased’s remains with proper memorialization.
“Either Cindy or I attend every burial. We feel like we should be there. It’s different for us. It’s in here. (He patted his chest over his heart.)
“I was once talking with a local businessman who I’d dealt with on many occasions for my appraisal business. I was talking about the satisfaction I’ve felt with the cemetery business, and I could see he didn’t understand. I said to him, ‘I’ve been appraising real estate for you for 35 years. I’ve done a good job. You’ve never hugged me and thanked me for doing a good job.’ This happens routinely now at my cemetery.
“Traditionally, I’ve not been a hugger. It happens all the time now. This is just different.”
Michael Abraham is a businessman and author. He was raised in Christiansburg and lives in Blacksburg.
