Family donates sign at Finland Cemetery

Gordon Burnell lived in Finland for the last 32 years of his life and his sister thought what better way to remember him than by making a sign for the local cemetery.
“It was in memory of my brother who passed away five years ago in September,” Fran Faragher said Monday.
“We thought the cemetery never had a sign and it had been there a long, long time,” she added. “Every other cemetery has a sign but Finland never had one.”
Faragher enlisted Sand Bay Designs to create the sign—with its crisp Celtic green letters—for the cemetery. It was put in place last month and so far the community has embraced it.
“Everyone thinks it is just wonderful,” she said.
Faragher described her brother as a kind man, as well as an outdoorsman who loved the lake and worked in the woods during the winter.
She added he was extremely generous and an excellent neighbour. “He would give you the shirt off his back if you needed it,” Faragher said.
She added she thought her brother definitely would like this memorial.
“He would have really liked it. He was a Finlander through and through,” she laughed. “At his funeral, they played ‘Life in Finland Woods’ because it was his favourite song.”