Essex funeral home wins conservation award as commemorative tree-planting yields 6-acre forest

Planting trees to commemorate lost loved ones has been a popular ritual for a number of years.

But now a Windsor-area funeral home has won a conservation award for the practice.

Reid Funeral Home Ltd. received an environmental achievement award Thursday night from the Essex Region Conservation Authority for planting so many trees in honour of the families they have served over the past 30 years that they have created the six-acre Fred Cada Memorial Forest at the Hillman Marsh Conservation Area.

“It's very heartwarming,” said Reid’s Leamington officer manager Stephanie Piroli, “to know that we're giving back to next generations, not just serving ourselves and making a memory for ourselves today, but it's also honouring our lives and our loved ones' lives for generation after generation.”

The practice of planting trees in honour of the families of deceased individuals began in 1995  with the grandfather of present owner Kevin Reid, Piroli said.

“I think it was just they were looking to do something to bring people together, other than just, you know, the typical, like, candle lighting ceremony. … I think they were looking to give back as well as celebrate lives.”

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the funeral home would invite client families to Hillman Marsh for an annual ceremonial tree-planting with members of the conservation authority.

The company would then make an annual donation to the authority to cover the cost of planting a tree for each client family who lost a loved one that year. 

Piroli estimated the cost at around $8,000 per year.

“It could be upwards of 450 seedlings,” she said. 

This year, Reid also paid to install a wind phone in the forest and will contribute annually to its maintenance, she added.

A wind phone is an old-fashioned telephone connected to nothing that allows people to ritually speak with loved ones who have died. 

The concept became popular after a wind phone installed in Japan after the 2011 Tusanmi became the subject of a radio documentary.

Unlike other businesses, which charge to plant memorial trees, Reid makes the donation from its own funds and does not charge extra to clients, Piroli said.