Vivace in Canada

History of St. Joachime Cemetery:
Established in 1888 on land donated by the Groat family, this cemetery initially served the downtown community of St. Joachim Parish, the Catholic parish originally centered in the old Fort Edmonton. The cemetery contains a variety of historic monuments; walking through its many rows of memorials, one can begin to appreciate the history of the Catholic presence in central Alberta.

A large central cross marks the burial crypt of Archbishop Henry Joseph O'Leary (d. 1938).



The Saturday afternoon of the Victoria Day long weekend, we went out for a walk at St. Joachime Cemetery with Keri & R.D., I don't know if people usually 'take a walk' at cementeries, but it's actually a nice and quiet place to have a walk. Keri and I have read about the historic monuments in the cemetery in a book she has that mentions places and things arround Edmonton. It was more like to visit to some ruins than a cemetery.



Headstones.
R.D. used to work here, he cut grass in the cemetery, usually early in the morning before sunrise. Lots of people questioned him if it's scary or creepy woking at the cemetery, he found it's peaceful, and enjoyed working here.






A very elaborate and beautiful Cross headstone; there was spiderweb haning on the Cross, I guess the family stop coming to visit for a very long time.






Keri & I were wondering if Whyte avenue (82nd avenue in Edmonton) is named after this Whyte family.






MacKay family's monument.






This section is a military burial ground.






The headstone of the First Mayor of Edmonton.






A headstone with a little elegant statue of Mary. I'm happy to see someone is still coming to visit the deceased.






I found the Cross headstones are all very unique.






We thought the couple must be so in love, even their headstones lean against to each other, very sweet.






The large central cross marks the burial crypt of Archbishop Henry Joseph O'Leary (dated 1938).






Another headstone with the Cross relief.






A tiny statue at the cemetery, not a headstone, and too new to be a monument.






This statue is also a headstone, very beautiful.