The rule was relaxed, but still no headstone was allowed, so that's why many people chose not to be buried there."
After talking with her husband, saying someone should do something, the kind-hearted woman says she realised that person could be her.
"I'm retired now, I have the time. It matters to me, so it was something I felt I could do to do something to recognise the service these people gave."
Starting last May, she says she can't calculate how much time it takes to do one cross, as she does them in parts.
"First I buy the wood and get it cut to size, then it gets painted, then the crosses are assembled, then the posies of flowers are made up, the poppies added then it is all attached to the cross."
When she approached the Stratford RSA about her idea, they thought it was great, she says, and gave her the poppies to use. Everything else is purchased by her.
"It's my way of giving, of doing something."
A friend in Auckland sent her $200 to go towards the cost.
"Her father is buried here, so she wanted to contribute."
While she isn't willing to be recognised herself, the woman is quick to recognise the help of others.
"Carol Spragg from the genealogy society has been so helpful. We have spent hours going through records, identifying graves in the general section that should receive a cross on Anzac Day."
Her husband also gave "a good number of his days off work" to help paint and assemble the crosses.
With the recent decision of the Stratford RSA to liquidate, a technical hitch was hit.
"I realised I now needed to get permission from the Stratford District Council as they were taking over the Anzac stuff. They said the idea was fine, but then someone raised the fact that not every ex-service person might want something placed at their grave.
Not everyone in the armed forces enjoyed their time or wanted to do it. So now the idea is we will place a box of crosses just inside the cemetery on the Sunday before Anzac Day and leave it there until the day itself. If people want to take a cross and place it at their loved one's grave to recognise their service, they can do so.
If they can't come themselves to do it, they can call the council and they will give us a list of names on graves and we will places them ourselves on the Sunday before Anzac Day."
Volunteers are welcome to help distribute the crosses and to collect them afterwards.
If you would like your relative to have a cross placed on their grave for Anzac day, and you are out of town, call Stratford District Council on 06 765 6099. You can collect a cross from the cemetery between Sunday, April 23 and Tuesday, April 25 and place it yourself. One cross per grave please. Crosses are also available from the Stratford District Council service centre.
Volunteers are welcome to place the crosses. Meet at the cemetery gates at 1pm on Sunday, April 23. People to gather the crosses afterwards are also needed, same meeting place on Wednesday, April 26, 1pm
RSA Poppies are available in Stratford this year from the Stratford branch of the ANZ bank, the Stratford i-SITE and the Stratford District Council service centre.
