Forest Hills Cemetery: some famous proponents and their stories
The Forest Hills Cemetery and the Forest Hills Educational Trust present, "A Lucy Stone Chapel Lecture Event," with author and historian Dee Morris.
In 1889, Lucy Stone, abolitionist and advocate of women's suffrage, declared that she was, “decidedly in favor of Cremation!” After her death four years later, Mrs. Stone was the first person in New England to be cremated in the 1893 facility erected by local cremation societies. The event was front page news.
Forest Hills purchased the handsome structure in 1925. Many other Greater Boston notables have chosen this alternative for their final disposition. Proponents include: Linda Richards, America's first trained nurse; Edgar Helms, founder of Goodwill Industries; Maria Baldwin, first African-American school principal in Massachusetts; and Ruby Foo, famed restaurateur.