The slightly unsettled weather might have forced the event indoors, but the 22nd annual Tree of Memory Dedication Ceremony was still able to take place live and in person on Sunday afternoon at the W.J. Jones and Son Funeral Home.
While that might have been a touch disappointing in past years given how the ceremony takes place in Crescent Park and sees the tree planted during the event, with how things have gone during the pandemic, it was as welcome as could be.
“It’s been so nice to be able to get back and have people connect again,” said Dayna Chamberlain, general manager of W.J. Jones & Son Funeral Services. “We’ve missed that over the past three years, so to have this event in person again is just amazing.”
The Tree of Memory is planted each year to honour those the local funeral home has served over the past year. Trees were planted in Wakamow Valley from 2000 to 2007 before moving to Besant Park from 2008 to 2012. Since then, a tree has been planted in Crescent Park every spring, offering folks a simple and easy journey should they want to visit it.
“We’ve been doing this for 22 years and I’ve been involved with this for 17 years, and we’ve been very blessed,” said Chamberlain. “We’ve seen the program evolve and grow and we’re just so fortunate over the last few years that we’ve been able to plant a tree in Crescent Park. It’s just so much more accessible for everyone.”
The City of Moose Jaw selected a blue spruce as the tree for 2022.
“We ask for a mature tree and we ask that they place it in the park where there’s a tree that’s coming to the end of its lifespan or where there might be a need for a tree there,” Chamberlain said. “So we leave it to them to suggest the tree and the spot. And we’ve adopted a tree as our symbol (at W.J. Jones & Son), so it’s a very, very close connection for all of us here.”
Around 30 people gathered in the funeral home’s chapel for the event, which featured musical performances by Aaron Ruston and Paul Winichuk, including a touching tribute by Ruston in memory of Elaine Tooke.
The ceremony included the traditional reading of the honour roll of people served by the funeral home over the past year, and to whom the tree will be dedicated. Participants in the event could write the names of their loved ones on special slips of paper that will be planted with the tree, letting the roots grow through them for all time.
The tree was slated to be planted in Crescent Park on the morning of Monday, May 30.
For more on W.J. Jones and Son Funeral Services and the Tree of Memory program, be sure to visit their website at www.wjjonesandson.com.
