Mara Cemetery
The following is a transcription of Mara Cemetery located in Mara, British Columbia, Canada.
Location
- Latitude: 50o 40' 39.45" N.
- Longitude: 119o 03' 9.68" W.
Historical Background
Mara was named for John Andrew Mara, an Overlander; born at Toronto; who had store at Seymour on Shuswap Lake in 1865 and later at Kamloops. He was a merchant, miller, steamship operator, promoter of the Kootenay Steam Navigation Company and Shuswap & Okanagan Railway. He was also an MLA from 1871 - 1886 (Speaker, 1883 - 86); and an MP from 1887 - 1896. He retired to Victoria, where he died February 11, 1920 at the age of 79. The Mara Post Office was opened June 1, 1893 with S. Appleby as postmaster.
The exact date of the first burial in the Mara Cemetery is unknown but grave markers date back to around 1910. Several of Mara pioneers are laid to rest here.
Jack Moser, born in Mara donated, in 1960, the new fence around the cemetery. And in 1967 he donated a bronze arch to adorn the white pillar posts of the gate at the entrance to the cemetery. This arch was shipped completed assembled from Lethbridge, Alberta.
Layout
The Mara Cemetery is owned and administered by the Regional District and is currently in use. It is about 2 ¾ acres in size and is surrounded by a chain link fence. A black wrought iron gate and arch lead to the cemetery.
The graves are laid out in an east/west direction and are levelled. The markers are either upright raised markers or flat markers set flush to the ground. The composition of the markers is either slate, marble, concrete.
Driving Directions
Located along the west side of Highway 97 in Mara.
Interments
The interments for the Mara Cemetery can be
viewed as a pdf file here » Interments.pdf 
Additional Sourses of Information:Last updated 1997
- British Columbia Vital Events Index
- Mara's Memories, Enderby, B.C.: Enderby Museum, 1996
- 12th Report of the Okanagan Historical Society, 1948, citing Gosnell, p.346; Wade, p.164
For more information please, contact the Cemetery Committee