Throughout time, man has valued the commemoration of a life's end to give closure to the survivors and to memorialize the departed.
A traditional burial provides a permanent place for friends or family to remember the deceased. And the headstone often is the "last record we ever existed," said Mark Schreiber, board president at Riverview Cemetery.
As a preference for cremation grows, the largest cemetery in Cole County chose to "provide a stately and dignified setting" for those names to be remembered, as well.
Some families who choose cremation take the ashes home or scatter them. Unfortunately, they may be forgotten or lost in the next generation. Stories have been told of ashes in vases unknowingly set out at garage sales.
The columbarium under construction at Riverview Cemetery already has interments. When finished, the first phase will accommodate 320 niches, each able to hold up to two urns inside a military-grade metal vault behind a black granite face.
"This is a forever place, a place for all family members and friends to visit and remember that person," General Manager Tim Theroff said.
The cemetery found its interment of cremated remains has risen more than 200 percent in just 15 years, Theroff said.
The National Funeral Directors Association forecasts by 2030, cremation will account for 71 percent of all burials nationwide. Already the rate of cremation has surpassed traditional burial in the United States.
Some places, mostly along the coasts, already have a cremation rate of about 75 percent, Theroff said. In Missouri, the average is 41 percent cremation.
"It's coming this way," he said. "We have niches in the mausoleum, but at this rate, we're going to run out."
The national association suggested reasons for the shift include cost, environment, fewer religious prohibitions and a general change in consumer preference.
The local, not-for-profit, non-denominational cemetery chose to "do justice to cremated remains" by adding the columbarium, Theroff said.
To that end, the circular location includes parking areas and Americans with Disabilities Act-compliant access. Ample seating around a central, lighted fountain will allow for services.
Hardwood trees will be planted on either side of the columbarium, continuing the cemetery's goal to return to a Victorian era-inspired park-like feel, Schreiber said.
"When this is all finished, it will be something people will feel proud to put their family member in," he said.