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November 21, 2007 - Started in 1907, Pine Ridge Cemetery in Dedham claims to be “the oldest operating pet cemetery in the country that is owned and operated by an animal welfare agency.” The cemetery is a service provided by the Animal Rescue League of Boston and has hundreds of pets buried in it. Photograph by Whitney J. Fox.
November 21, 2007 - At the Pine Ridge Pet Cemetery in Dedham, Linda Crist (left) carefully rests the lifeless head of her black Labrador, Spencer (center), while caretaker Mike Thomas (right) gently squeezes his front paws to fully fit Spencer in the burial box. Spencer, that died suddenly from an undetected tumor in his heart, will remain buried at Pine Ridge, along with two cats, Lolly and Meredith, and another dog, Brandy, in the same grave. “In this one,” Crist says looking down at the plot, “We had a multiple burial only because we had multiple deaths this year and they all came around the same time, so he [Thomas] was kind enough to do it all at once.” She explains, “If you cremate them you can fit tons of them in there,” but warns, “Every time you open the plot up you have to pay an opening fee and you have to pay a casket fee, so it’s nice today that I was able to do it all at once. If it had happened over the [Thanksgiving] holiday, it’s very hard to keep a large animal like Spencer [frozen].” In the colder months of the year, Crist says, “Sometimes what I have to do if the ground is truly frozen - it’s all ice and everything, -I bring the animal up here, he [Thomas] puts it into a casket and they have a storage area in the garage that stays very cold, and then I come back in the spring and they dig the grave and he calls me and sets up an appointment.” Thomas is sensitive to Crist’s needs. “He allows me to view the animal in the casket, ‘cause I need that for closure,” she says with a laugh. “Then he does the burial just as he did the burial today.” Pine Ridge, in which hundreds of pets have been buried in since it began in 1907, claims to be “the oldest operating pet cemetery in the country that is owned and operated by an animal welfare agency.” Photograph by Whitney J. Fox.
November 21, 2007 - Caretaker Mike Thomas hoists and lowers the $50, 35-inch long and 17-inch wide pine and plywood burial box containing Spencer, a black Labrador that died suddenly from an undetected tumor in his heart, who will remain buried at Pine Ridge Cemetery in Dedham, along with two cats, Lolly and Meredith, and another dog, Brandy, in the same grave. Thomas, who began working at Pine Ridge in 1970, buries people’s pets every Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday morning, reaching as many as 300 annual burials. “Next month we’ll be doing it five days a week. What we do is just before the ground freezes is we take several rows of graves that are side by side and behind each other and we put a big cover on them. Then we put a foot of hay on top of the cover and then another tarp on top of that - that keeps it from freezing all year long, all winter long. If you need a grave, we have a grave. If you have a grave and it’s frozen, we have to hold your pet until the spring. It eliminates probably two-thirds of the burials that we would have to hold over the [winter]. If you bought one just to have one, we’d give you the option “do you want to swap that one there for the one over there?”…You can wait until the spring and use that grave or we can schedule it for you in two days. Pine Ridge, in which hundreds of pets have been buried in since it began in 1907, claims to be “the oldest operating pet cemetery in the country that is owned and operated by an animal welfare agency.” Photograph by Whitney J. Fox.
November 21, 2007 - At Pine Ridge Cemetery in Dedham, Linda Crist, from Millis, watches tearfully as caretaker Mike Thomas shovels soil back over the grave of her dog, Brandy, two cats, Lolly and Meredith, and black Labrador, Spencer, that died suddenly from an undetected tumor in his heart. “I feel this is the last step, this is my closure that I can at least do this for them. To put them in a protected area where it’s beautiful, where they’ll be surrounded by the souls of the other animals and that I can come and I can visit. If I sell my house, it’s never going to be disturbed. They’re here just as humans are as long as this cemetery is in existence, well taken care of, and their last resting place will be well taken care of.” Crist says cremation is not her. “I feel that I need to be here when they’re buried, just participate in the burial and I feel that a cremation doesn’t give you the closure, because you hand the body over to someone else and you don’t see them again until they’re ashes, so I need to see them go into the ground.” Pine Ridge, in which hundreds of pets have been buried in since it began in 1907, claims to be “the oldest operating pet cemetery in the country that is owned and operated by an animal welfare agency.” Photograph by Whitney J. Fox.* * *
November 21, 2007 - At the Pine Ridge Pet Cemetery in Dedham, a small, identifying plate “B838” marks the new mass grave where Linda Crist, from Millis, just laid to rest in pine and plywood burial boxes, her dog, Brandy, two cats, Lolly and Meredith, and black Labrador, Spencer, that died suddenly from an undetected tumor in his heart. Crist believes a cemetery provides closure for her compared to cremation. She feels a cemetery also allows her pets to be at peace. “Yes and for their souls to rest and for them to play at night. When the moon comes out and the clouds come out, they can go visit other friends and be together with them,” her voice quivers as she fights back tears. Crist manages a laugh and smile through the tears admitting, “I know it sounds silly but…” Pine Ridge, in which hundreds of pets have been buried in since it began in 1907, claims to be “the oldest operating pet cemetery in the country that is owned and operated by an animal welfare agency.” Photograph by Whitney J. Fox. 
November 21, 2007 - At the Pine Ridge Pet Cemetery in Dedham, Linda Crist, from Millis, sheds a single tear as she looks down upon the new mass grave where she just laid to rest in pine and plywood burial boxes, her dog, Brandy, two cats, Lolly and Meredith, and black Labrador, Spencer, that died suddenly from an undetected tumor in his heart. Crist started Paradise Pet Shelter, Inc. in 1985 and has used Pine Ridge as the final resting place for all her animals - a minimum of 40 burial plots. “We built an addition onto our home and the veterinarians in the area contact us and let us know if there are animals that don’t really need to be put to sleep, they just need extra special care or if someone is going into a nursing home, we’re contacted, but we’re a private shelter, and we don’t accept donations. We do everything out of our own pocket and then that way we can do things the way we want to do it and we don’t have to answer to anyone…It’s a private community of veterinarians who know about us and alert us and social workers who work with the elderly and the disabled, and we just never adopt them out. We did the beginning and I found I couldn’t deal with it. I’d miss them. I’d worry about them. I was always checking up on them, driving the adoptive parents crazy,” she says with a smile. “So I decided it’s just best I keep them. That’s my passion in life, and I didn’t know it. When I was younger I had no clue.” Crist has help from her boyfriend, friends, and volunteers, but says, “I’m the one driving force through this whole thing. I just stay, and I’m home 24 hours a day, seven days a week. I haven’t had a vacation in 30 years,” she says while laughing. “Wouldn’t leave my babies with anyone. I just really love what I’m doing and that’s the key in life is to do what you’re absolutely passionate about, that you would do for free, like I do for free.” Crist’s passion will hopefully live on for she is terminally ill with cancer. She thinks she may have found a suitable animal devotee to take over Paradise Pet Shelter, but says the woman, “Doesn’t know I’m going to put her in my will, but I’m keeping my fingers crossed that they come up with something to treat me ‘cause I’ve gone through the chemo and I’m on medications and I’m on injections and I’m hoping to be here for a long time. It started out as breast cancer and just spread and then as a result of all the treatments I’ve gone through I’ve developed rheumatoid arthritis and fibromyalgia, and they said that the chemo sometimes, you know, some kind of trauma to your body will bring on those kinds of diseases.” Crist’s amazingly strong spirit prevails even in the face of death. “But I’m like this, girl, I’m an optimist. Nobody’s going to outlive me,” she says laughing. Pine Ridge, in which hundreds of pets have been buried in since it began in 1907, claims to be “the oldest operating pet cemetery in the country that is owned and operated by an animal welfare agency.” Photograph by Whitney J. Fox. 
November 21, 2007 - Pine Ridge Cemetery in Dedham, in which hundreds of pets have been buried in since it began in 1907, claims to be “the oldest operating pet cemetery in the country that is owned and operated by an animal welfare agency.” It is a service managed by the Animal Rescue League of Boston. Many “famous” pets are buried there, including Lizzy Bordon’s three dogs. Caretaker at Pine Ridge Cemetery in Dedham, Mike Thomas, has worked at Pine Ridge since 1970 and says he needs to speak to customers directly, asserting, “This is not an e-mail business. They have to hear your voice.” He says of the most special part of his job, “It’s the people. I’m gonna tell you the same thing I tell everybody. It’s a pet cemetery. It’s a people business. There’s nothing I do for your pets when I get them, except treat them the way I hope you’d treat mine should we swap places. That’s as good as it gets. I can’t make them come back, you know, I can’t make your 18-year-old cat 12 or 8.” Thomas says pet cemetery burial is a need, not a want, for people. “People aren’t up here having to give their pet up. They’re cause they need to be, not cause they want to be. It’s because they need to be. They need to bring their pet to the cemetery…They want to see me, but they need to be here…’I need to get my pet to the cemetery, whether it’s cremated or buried.’ They need to do it, and then you know from there it goes to want and comfortable and a ‘I have to get this done.’ It’s closure.” Thomas says, “We have people that come back and visit almost every day still, you know, years later. Then we have people come back once a month, once every other couple of months, twice a year, once a year, never.” Regardless, the cemetery is a necessary means to an end for many people. Photograph by Whitney J. Fox. 
November 21, 2007 - In his office, caretaker at Pine Ridge Cemetery in Dedham, Mike Thomas, counts a minimum of 40 burial plots for customer Linda Crist, from Millis, who runs the privately-owned Paradise Pet Shelter, Inc. Thomas has worked at Pine Ridge since 1970 and says he needs to speak to customers directly, asserting, “This is not an e-mail business. They have to hear your voice.” He says of the most special part of his job, “It’s the people. I’m gonna tell you the same thing I tell everybody. It’s a pet cemetery. It’s a people business. There’s nothing I do for your pets when I get them, except treat them the way I hope you’d treat mine should we swap places. That’s as good as it gets. I can’t make them come back, you know, I can’t make your 18-year-old cat 12 or 8.” Thomas says pet cemetery burial is a need, not a want, for people. “People aren’t up here having to give their pet up. They’re cause they need to be, not cause they want to be. It’s because they need to be. They need to bring their pet to the cemetery…They want to see me, but they need to be here…’I need to get my pet to the cemetery, whether it’s cremated or buried.’ They need to do it, and then you know from there it goes to want and comfortable and a ‘I have to get this done.’ It’s closure.” Thomas says, “We have people that come back and visit almost every day still, you know, years later. Then we have people come back once a month, once every other couple of months, twice a year, once a year, never.” Regardless, the cemetery is a necessary means to an end for many people. Pine Ridge, in which hundreds of pets have been buried in since it began in 1907, claims to be “the oldest operating pet cemetery in the country that is owned and operated by an animal welfare agency.” Photograph by Whitney J. Fox. 
November 21, 2007 - Caretaker at Pine Ridge Cemetery in Dedham, Mike Thomas, has worked at Pine Ridge since 1970 and says he needs to speak to customers directly, asserting, “This is not an e-mail business. They have to hear your voice.” He says of the most special part of his job, “It’s the people. I’m gonna tell you the same thing I tell everybody. It’s a pet cemetery. It’s a people business. There’s nothing I do for your pets when I get them, except treat them the way I hope you’d treat mine should we swap places. That’s as good as it gets. I can’t make them come back, you know, I can’t make your 18-year-old cat 12 or 8.” Thomas says pet cemetery burial is a need, not a want, for people. “People aren’t up here having to give their pet up. They’re cause they need to be, not cause they want to be. It’s because they need to be. They need to bring their pet to the cemetery…They want to see me, but they need to be here…’I need to get my pet to the cemetery, whether it’s cremated or buried.’ They need to do it, and then you know from there it goes to want and comfortable and a ‘I have to get this done.’ It’s closure.” Thomas says, “We have people that come back and visit almost every day still, you know, years later. Then we have people come back once a month, once every other couple of months, twice a year, once a year, never.” Regardless, the cemetery is a necessary means to an end for many people. Pine Ridge, in which hundreds of pets have been buried in since it began in 1907, claims to be “the oldest operating pet cemetery in the country that is owned and operated by an animal welfare agency.” Photograph by Whitney J. Fox. 
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