Ashlynn Rickord Werner is a cemetery and death-care professional dedicated to preserving and interpreting spaces of memory, mourning, and history. With a passion for cemetery preservation, public history, and community engagement, she brings a unique blend of historical insight, field experience, and advocacy to her work.

Ashlynn is currently the Customer Success Lead (Americas) with PlotBox, a global death-care

management software company, where she helps cemeteries, crematoria, and funeral homes optimize their operations while maintaining compassionate service. She previously served as Director of Cemeteries for the City of Providence, overseeing operations, restoration efforts, and public programming across multiple historic burial grounds.

In addition to her full-time role, Ashlynn offers consulting services to cemeteries and related organizations on topics including tourism strategy, interpretation, historic preservation, and operational best practices. She is also a frequent speaker and lecturer, offering talks and trainings on cemetery history, death-care trends, and public engagement.

Ashlynn holds a master’s degree from Harvard Divinity School and a bachelor’s degree in history and religion from Carthage College. Her academic work, including her thesis “Faith, Death, and Space: Religion at an Institution for the Developmentally Disabled,” reflects her longstanding interest in the intersections of faith, disability, and institutional care. She is also the author of a published history of Tewksbury State Hospital, a former almshouse and institution that played a key role in Massachusetts public health history.

Ashlynn’s professional journey began in museums and public history, where she worked in museum education, archives, oral history, exhibit design, and development. These foundations continue to inform her work in the cemetery world—whether she’s leading tours, developing programs, or building tools for the industry.

She currently serves on the Board of Directors for Spring Lake Cemetery in Aurora, Illinois. Previously, she served on the Board of Directors for the Public Health Museum in Tewksbury, Massachusetts, and as Treasurer of the Board of Trustees for the Association for Gravestone Studies, where she supported efforts to promote the education, appreciation, and conservation of historic cemeteries and gravestones.

Ashlynn actively engages in death-care thought leadership, working to bridge the past and present through storytelling, scholarship, and service.

RESEARCH INTERESTS

  • Gravestone/Cemetery Studies
  • American History
  • Religious Studies
  • Disability Studies
  • Mental Institutionalization/Public Health Studies
  • Historic Preservation/Architecture
  • Public History – Communications, Archives Management, Museum Management
  • Museum Studies
  • Oral History

SCHOLARLY PRESENTATIONS

  • “Embracing Cemetery Tourism: A New Venture in Community Engagement and Revenue Growth,” Alliance of Illinois Cemeterians Annual Conference, February, 2025.
  • “Embracing Cemetery Tourism: A New Venture in Community Engagement and Revenue Growth,” New England Cemetery Association 52nd Frederick R. Laffond Management Seminar, December, 2022.
  • “Deciphering Death: Gravestone Symbolism in Stone,” Nichols College Public Lecture, March 9, 2022.
  • “Disability History,” Lecture to Fitchburg State Writing Class, October 24, 2019; October 5, 2020; October 13, 2021.
  • “History of the Tewksbury State Hospital,” Book Talk, Tewksbury Public Library, May 27, 2021, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkKxw7g9xoE&t=3s.
  • “’Feeble’ Stones: Graves of the Developmentally Disabled and Mentally Ill in Massachusetts.” Public Health Week lecture, Tewksbury Public Library, April 4, 2019.
  • “Emerging Professionals in Gravestone Studies.” 2018 Association for Gravestone Studies Annual Conference, June 22, 2018.
  • “Faith, Death, and Space: Religion at an Institution for the Developmentally Disabled.” 2018 Public Health Symposium, Lawrence History Center, April 7, 2018.
  • “AMP: A Question and Answer Session.” Invited presentation for AMP performance, HERE Arts Center, New York, December 17, 2017.
  • “’Feeble’ Stones: Graves of the Developmentally Disabled in Massachusetts.” 2017 Association of Gravestone Studies Annual Conference and Meeting – as Student Conference Scholarship Recipient, June 23, 2017.
  • “Holy Innocents: An Oral History of Religion at an Institution for the Developmentally Disabled.” 2016 Oral History Association Annual Meeting, October 15, 2016.
  • “The Irish Famine and the Catholic Church: A Watershed for Catholic Religiosity in Ireland.” Honors History Department Thesis Presentations & Honors Religion Department Thesis Presentations, Carthage College, December 2014.
  • “The Catholic Church in Ireland: The Famine’s Positive Repercussions on the Church.” Phi Alpha Theta – Delta Phi Wisconsin Regional Conference, University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee, April 2014.

PUBLICATIONS