Salt Lake City Cemetery’s longest-serving sexton, Mark Smith, honored with new arboretum

The arboretum was unveiled on Saturday and honors the cemetery ‘s longest serving sexton, Mark Smith.

(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) Children play in the leaves under a European beech tree as Salt Lake City announces the newly accredited Mark Smith Memorial Arboretum at Salt Lake City Cemetery on Saturday, November 6, 2021. From left: Henley DeHart, Nora Davis, Mazie Davis and Emma Carbine.

Salt Lake City leaders unveiled a new arboretum in the city’s historic cemetery on Saturday morning, dedicated to their longest-serving sexton, Mark Smith.

“Naming after sexton Mark Smith is appropriate as he was a valued civil servant who loved the cemetery and its beautiful canopy,” Mayor Erin Mendenhall said in a press release. It was said that Saturday was Smith’s birthday. He died in 2019.

The arboretum – in the southwest corner of the cemetery, near the main entrance – has 80 species of trees, from Austrian pine to zelkova, and each tree is marked with a small plaque at its base. Visitors can find a map online and in the sexton’s office.

(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) The family and friends of Mark Smith, the former sexton of Salt Lake City Cemetery, gather at his grave as Salt Lake City on Saturday, February 11th, 2021.

“Over the past 170 years, generations of Salt Lake City residents have planted and cared for trees to improve the quality of life. As a result of those efforts, a forest for humans grew, ”Tony Gliot, director of urban forestry of Salt Lake City, said in the press release.

Gliot and his team worked with Arbnet, an accreditation group, on the recognition last year, and the arboretum is the first officially accredited arboretum on urban property, according to the press release.

(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) Tony Gliot, City Forest Director, Julie Fratto-Smith, and Mayor Erin Mendenhall unveil a sign as Salt Lake City announces the newly accredited Mark Smith Memorial Arboretum in Salt Lake City Cemetery Saturday 6 November 2021.

(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) Urban Forest Program Manager Tony Gliot leads a tour under sequoias as Salt Lake City announces the newly accredited Mark Smith Memorial Arboretum at Salt Lake City Cemetery on Saturday, November 6, 2021 .

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