Sweet Auburn: The Magazine of the Friends of Mount Auburn President Bill Clendaniel Retires | Page 15

(continued from page 5)
Bill entered the non-profit world of land conservation
and historic preservation when he became the Deputy Di-
rector of The Trustees of Reservations in 1979. “That job
was both great fun and a valuable experience, learning how
non-profits work, how you manage wild lands and historic
gardens, how you interpret natural and historic sites, and
how you deal with issues of public use of privately owned
land.” His boss was Gordon Abbott, a long-time Mount
Auburn Trustee, who eventually nudged Bill to apply for the
Mount Auburn job. “Gordon was a wonderful mentor, both
at The Trustees and for many years at Mount Auburn,” Bill
recalls.
The Future: For Mount Auburn and for Bill
“Bill is the perfect client, he really is.
We had many very thoughtful meetings
about how to treat every square inch of
Cemetery land that I’ve been involved
with—and I loved that. At Spruce Knoll
this allowed everyone to tromp around
and think the project through. I could
take my time and know what was the
right way to go. And that is unusual.
“Bill is certainly one of the most courtly people in the world.
He’s always beautifully dressed and elegant in his bearing and
yet direct and down-to-earth. When you work with Bill, there
is never any confusion about how things will go. He lays them
out clearly and follows through on everything he says. He’s the
best of the best, not only in terms of business relationships but
also in terms of his collegial relationships.”
A Conversation with Bill Clendaniel
What challenges remain for Mount Auburn after Bill
leaves? “One of the biggest and most exciting challenges,
— Julie Moir Messervy
which I regret I won’t play a role in, is how to develop the
of Saxtons River, VT; Landscape Designer
Southwest Corner. That site will allow Mount Auburn to
design a cemetery for the 21st century,” Bill says. “There’s
feature as well as many new trees and shrubs, planted both
enough space to really make a statement and it’s not next
inside and outside the Cemetery’s boundary. It is innova-
to any historic areas, which gives the Cemetery a lot of
tive yet traditional and will be the key to Mount Auburn’s
freedom in the design. It could be a stunning new landscape.”
future as an active
Bill’s last major project, debuting this year, is Birch Gar-
cemetery. “Our
dens, which he helped to shape in conjunction with the
challenge now,”
Halvorson Design Partnership, the Buildings & Grounds
Bill says, “is to tell
Committee of the Trustees, and many
the world that we
members of the staff. Birch Gardens
are still open for
Right: Bill and his sons,
elaborates on an idea from the 1993
business; we have
Cameron and Douglas,
Master Plan. It is a linear interment
to convince peo-
on the Na Pali coast
landscape offering shared memorials on of Kaui, Hawaii, April
ple that this new
1999
a series of granite panels connected by
landscape will
a metal fence with finials copied from
Below: Bill and his part-
meet their needs
ner, Ron Barbagallo, and
the 19th-century originals embellish-
for both burial
the Clendaniel family dog,
ing the Mount Auburn Street fence.
and commemora-
Schubert, at Wingaersheek
At Bill’s insistence it includes a water
tion.” Bill believes
Beach, Gloucester
Mount Auburn
will continue
implementing the
principles of the
1993 Master Plan,
hiring top-quality
architects and landscape architects as it develops
new space and new facilities. “We strive for excel-
lence and innovation while adhering to our vision
of preservation and service,” Bill says.
While Mount Auburn will, to a degree, reflect
the tides of public taste, it will not be steered
exclusively by them. As Bill stresses, “One thing
that sets us apart, even from our historical peers, is
that we believe that ‘The customer is not always
right.’ What the public may want is not necessarily
in Mount Auburn’s best interests. Fortunately the
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