Chali Pittman
The Forest Hill Cemetery office sign.
Isthmus asked and city workers counted: There are only 299 plots left in the two sections reserved for veterans at Forest Hill Cemetery.
Alonzo Anderson tried to make the end of his life easy for his kids. He laid out his last wishes in a meticulous three-ring binder, with instructions for a private burial in the veterans' section of Forest Hill Cemetery. He included a map of the cemetery listing the price of plots, from a tour Anderson had taken decades ago.
“He had everything in there,” says his daughter Kris Lehman, who adds that she thought her dad’s burial would be straightforward: “And then it wasn’t.”
Instead of moving forward with a quick burial at the historic, city-owned Forest Hill Cemetery, the family ran into weeks of red tape. The reason for the hangup? A city ordinance that requires Madison residence at the time of death for veterans who want to be buried in either of the cemetery’s two sections reserved for veterans.
Anderson had moved two years ago to an assisted care facility in Middleton and was living there in February, when he passed away at age 101. But he had spent the prior seven decades raising a family in Madison after returning from serving in World War II. He was the youngest principal in the school district when he was appointed to the post in 1955; active in his neighborhood association and church. In short, Lehman says, there was “no one more Madison than my dad.”
In the end, Anderson was buried where he’d wanted to be largely because his daughter was willing to push for it. Lehman credits her background working in local governments for knowing how to navigate the process. Though her first attempt to obtain a waiver from the Dane County Veterans Service — itself an odd hurdle since the cemetery is city-owned — her second attempt proved successful.
Lehman says all of the government officials she interacted with were “wonderful,” sympathetic and supportive in a difficult time. She says she pushed for her dad’s burial in Forest Hill — and later, for an ordinance change, because not everyone would be comfortable challenging a decision while grieving. “Laws get outdated, and someone needs to bring them up to date,” she tells Isthmus. Given Madison’s aging population, and the creation of many new assisted living facilities outside Madison, this could very well happen to other veterans, she adds.
Current ordinance outlines that exceptions can be granted by the Dane County Veterans Service for cases that show “unusual circumstances” or “unnecessary hardship” for a veteran or their spouse. When Lehman initially reached out to the county for a waiver, she was redirected back to the city.
After getting different answers from the cemetery, city and county, Lehman reached out to Madison Ald. Bill Tishler, whose district represents the Westmorland neighborhood where Anderson spent so much of his life. The denial was reversed, and a certificate was issued March 9.
Tishler has introduced an ordinance amendment that would allow veteran burial at Forest Hill to former residents of Madison who moved outside the city for “care related reasons”in the last three years of their life. Tishler says an update is “just the right thing to do,” adding that the situation may become more common in the years ahead.
“We don’t always have enough affordable assisted living facilities in Madison,” Tishler says. “I didn’t want this ordinance to become a barrier for families trying to get the right care, or to have another family go through what Mr. Anderson’s did.” (Tishler has personal knowledge of this. His parents have recently moved into assisted living within Madison.)
The amendment, introduced May 19, heads to the Board of Park Commissioners on June 10; Tishler expects a full city council vote on June 23.
The proposal would also simplify lines of authority. Under the change, the city parks superintendent — not the Dane County Veterans Service — would have the final authority to waive residency in exceptional circumstances. The ordinance would still require the county’s veteran service officer to prepare proof of qualifying military service.
The Anderson Family
Alonzo Anderson in front of his Westmorland home in 2014.
Alonzo Anderson in 2014, outside of his Westmorland home.
Anderson doesn’t yet have a headstone, though Lehman confirms that one is on the way. He was buried in April in Section 41, one of the two areas reserved for veterans. In these sections, early Native American burial mounds coexist with headstones dotted with flags, medals and flowers. Signs ask visitors to keep a respectful distance.
On the other side of the cemetery, near the entrance, a plaque celebrates this land’s status as “an intact example of the rural cemetery movement of the 19th century,” when cemeteries doubled as parks for “strolling, picnics, quiet recreation, and contemplation.” Names of historic Madisonians dot headstones across the cemetery: Steenbock, Doty, Tenney, Elvehjem, etc.
It’s an attractive place to spend eternity, and the land is filling up: there are 299 plots left for veterans, says parks division operations manager Chad Hughes. (Outside of the veterans' sections, there are another 400-500 plots left across the cemetery, which in total boasts about 38,000 plots.) So, what’s to prevent out-of-towners from seeking an increasingly precious final resting place at Forest Hill?
Hughes says Anderson’s burial has generated “discussion,” including over whether there should be a minimum number of years lived in Madison to be buried in the veterans' sections. In the end, Hughes says that would have been hard to administer. The important thing to capture, he says, was whether someone “willfully” left Madison, or whether they needed to leave the city to receive care.
As for the three‑year cutoff, he says, they needed to pick a number. There’s “still some certain level of arbitrary decision-making here,” he says, adding that the appropriate amount of time may be “different for everyone.”
