The 'large family grave' is a Vault in Blomley Rd. cemetery made Oamuru sandstone. The reason for this was that John Kermode attended a funeral in Christchurch where it rained so much that the coffin floated in the grave; he was adamant that would never happen to him. John Kermode in early life was rail track laying supervisor. He has a street named after him in Waikari, North Canterbury SI where the rail line ended. He and Ellen Rebecca Kermode bought and ran the now raised Great Northern Hotel.