Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, October 21, 1995                   TAG: 9510230026
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-1   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: ROBERT FREIS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG                                LENGTH: Medium

SOME TAKE GRAVE OFFENSE AT PARTY PLANS

That's the position of Terri Welch, who manages Roselawn Memory Gardens, about plans to hold a children's autumn festival with hayrides and pumpkin decorating today at the graveyard. The cemetery sits on a hillside along U.S. 460 near New River Valley Mall.

The cemetery never planned a Halloween theme for the event, or intended to allow young attendees to disrespectfully scamper atop the graves there, Welch says.

So, weather permitting, the "afternoon of fun" will be held at Roselawn Memory Gardens - despite objections from some people who own burial plots or have relatives buried there.

Several of them appeared on local television newscasts earlier this week to express their displeasure.

Danny Ray Huffman of Blacksburg called the cemetery's fall festival "a new low in poor taste" in a letter to The Roanoke Times.

"Those of us with loved ones buried in Roselawn purchased the property with the intent of providing a peaceful, dignified resting place. A 'Fall Festival,' I believe most will agree, was not what we had in mind," Huffman said.

Welch, who has managed the 15-acre cemetery on U.S. 460 since June, said she was surprised at the negative response generated by the event.

The Loewen Group, a multinational company that has owned Roselawn Memory Gardens since last November, has held similar events at cemeteries across the United States and Canada before, Welch said, adding: "Never have we received a response like this."

The idea was to stage a combination community event and business promotion to demonstrate to children that a cemetery is "not a frightful place," she said.

Yet plans began to go awry last Saturday when Welch placed a advertisement for "Pumpkin Decorating" and other events in a local newspaper.

The advertisement was intended to be illustrated with undecorated pumpkins and a cornucopia, artwork related to the season. When the published copy had pictures of jack-o'-lanterns, a bat and a friendly ghost instead, Welch said she "about had a heart attack."

"We aren't going to be doing anything disrespectful," she said. "This has nothing whatsoever to do with Halloween."

The hayride and pumpkin decorating will be held on an undeveloped parcel of the cemetery, and Roselawn has invited local clergymen to supervise. However, an apple-bobbing event has been canceled because of health concerns, Welch said.

Children age 12 and under are invited; Welch hopes 100 or more will come. "We're not going to have kids running around the cemetery tramping on graves. I can understand people not liking that idea."

Huffman and others disagree with the entire concept. The cemetery has been neglected by several recent owners, he said, and he doesn't like some of the changes wrought by The Loewen Group, either.

Nonetheless, Welch said the cemetery plans other on-site seasonal events, such as a Christmas candlelight service and an Easter sunrise ceremony.

And when renovations to Roselawn's mausoleum are completed later this year, the cemetery plans to sponsor a blood drive.