What is a “lawn crypt” and how are burials handled?
Our Lady of Victory Cemetery first considered lawn crypt burials in 2004 as a means of increasing the use of the available space in the cemetery. In an effort to provide burial services to the families and friends of OLV, lawn crypts, also known as “double depth” graves, allows the cemetery to almost double the numbers of persons that can be buried in part of the “open” space within the cemetery. With lawn crypts, the concrete vault is almost twice the height of a single vault. They also have a ledge built around the inside about halfway between the top and bottom of the vault. Our Lady of Victory Cemetery requires the use of a concrete burial vault for each deceased interred. This is done to keep the ground from collapsing as the grave site compacts over time and possible casket deterioration.
The area to be used for this method of burial is excavated for a depth deeper than a normal grave site and materials are added to provide for drainage of any ground water that might collect to provide as dry a burial site as possible. Then the double size vaults are installed and the area around the vaults is backfilled with gravel and dirt. Each vault contains space for two caskets, a shelf between the two, and a lid or top for the vault. When the first person is interred, the lid and shelf are removed, the casket placed on the bottom and the shelf replaced. When the second casket is added, the lid is again removed, the casket lowered into place on top of the shelf and the lid restored. After each burial, the surface area is covered with a layer of dirt and planted with grass seed.
OLV Cemetery has fifty Lawn Crypt burial sites located in Section 5. As part of the Lawn Crypt service, each site has the double concrete vault, with shelf and lid, a bronze marker with space for remembrances for both those interred and provides for opening and closing the site for both burials.