Our Stories

big wheat field

From Farm to Cemetery: The Gummerson Story

Before Meadowvale Cemetery became the serene park-like setting it is today, the land was a working farm owned by the Gummerson family. When the
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Alexander Muir

Alexander Muir: The Man Behind “The Maple Leaf Forever”

Alt text: Historic postcard photograph of Mount Pleasant Cemetery in Toronto showing the stone Gothic-style public vault partially framed by trees, with handwritten message text and a small British flag illustration on the right side.

Receiving Winter Vault “The Dead House”: Victorian Design for a Practical Need

A vintage black‑and‑white portrait of Marion Alice Powell-Orr wearing a peaked cap with an insignia and a dark military jacket. The jacket features a winged badge on the chest and shoulder markings. The person is posed against a softly lit studio backdrop.

Marion Alice Powell-Orr: Breaking Barriers in the Skies

soldiers on horses

Honouring Remembrance Day at York Cemetery

Black-and-white photograph of the identical twins Bruce and Duke Warren standing together beside a fighter aircraft marked “DUKE II.” Both wear flight jackets and life vests, with the cockpit and nose of the plane visible behind them, suggesting preparation for or return from a flight.

Flight Lieutenant Bruce Warren: A Test Pilot Who Helped Shape Canada’s Aviation Legacy

A black and white aerial image of Brampton, taken in 1954. A railroad line can be seen stretching from the middle left edge of the frame to the bottom left corner. In the middle of the frame, there is a concentration of houses and buildings, the landscape dotted with clusters of trees.

Frank Kovalsky: The Commander

Snow‑covered cemetery landscape with a low, curved stone grave marker partially buried in snow beneath spreading tree branches. Additional headstones and leafless trees are visible in the background, creating a quiet winter scene.

Roscoe Reid Graham: A Pioneer of Canadian Surgery

mother feeding her kids cod liver oil

Marion and Wally Johnston: A Partnership in Science and Service

Color photograph of a large group posed together at an event, dressed in zombie-style makeup and tattered, dirt-stained clothing. Several people wear ripped dresses, suits, and workwear with theatrical wounds and distressed details. One person holds a prop axe, while another grips a long stick. The group stands closely packed in front of an event backdrop and metal truss structure, creating a chaotic, playful scene that evokes a horror-film or zombie-themed gathering.

George A. Romero: The Godfather of the Dead

Portrait of the Very Rev. Dr. Sang Chul Lee wearing a dark suit jacket, white shirt, and patterned tie, shown from the shoulders up against a plain studio background

Rev. Sang Chul Lee: Faith Without Borders

grass, trees and boulders

Natural Burial: A Greener Way to Say Goodbye

Studio portrait of a military officer wearing a formal uniform with a peaked cap, medal ribbons, and aviation wings, posed against a plain teal backdrop and shown from the waist up.

Oliver Milton Martin: Indigenous Leader and Canadian Military Figure

gravestone with a table tennis player on it

Zoran “Zoki” Kosanović: A Champion Who Put Canadian Table Tennis on the Map

old street and horse drawn carriage

Charles Empringham: Scarborough’s Blacksmith and Carriage Maker

really old skates

Percy Johnston: A Life on Ice

The artist named Sigi Puchta stands beside the sundial. It is a circular stone feature surrounded by red flowers in an open cemetery landscape, with graves, trees, and grassy fields extending into the distance.

Tracing Time: The Sundial Collection at Mount Pleasant Group of Cemeteries

Stone memorial obelisk standing in a snow‑covered park, surrounded by trees in winter. An engraved inscription on the monument commemorates those who lost their lives on 5 July 1970 in Air Canada Flight 621 in Woodbridge, Ontario.

Air Canada Flight 621 Memorials: Honouring 109 Lives

Canadair CT-114 Tutor aircraft

Lieutenant Brian Gavin Alston: A Red Knight’s Final Flight

hill with crosses and a pole with the Canadian flag

Veterans Hill: Honouring Service and Sacrifice

A commemorative plaque mounted on a large rock at Thornton Cemetery marks the opening of the crematorium and mausoleum, surrounded by yellow flowers and fallen leaves outdoors.

Sealing a Promise: The Opening of Thornton Cemetery