02/25/2016
Our page is emerging from its winter slumber and preparing to greet spring! We hope you all had a grand winter with the seasonal holidays and, just maybe, enjoyed a snow day or two. With the warming temperatures soon upon us, here are some events and plans for our family cemetery for 2016.
Spring kick-off on Saturday April 2: We will meet at the cemetery at 10:00 for our first mowing and clean-up of 2016. A visit there last week indicates the cemetery and surrounding property are in good shape. The gravel lane has not washed out with the winter rains, so re-graveling will be minimal. The message board postings are all intact. The board will soon be encased with a sturdy clear cover to better protect the posted materials from the elements.
This week corrugated culvert pipe is being delivered for the open ditch along the road frontage. Cost of the pipe is being covered by several family members. The plan is to connect the pipe for a nearly 100’ stretch – the length of the cemetery road frontage – and cover it with earth to enable mowing of the property to the road’s edge. This will help improve mowing along the road and eliminate the unsightly vegetation growth in the ditch during warm weather.
We also are excited to announce a change in oversight of the trust that owns the cemetery property. The current trustees will be succeeded by a new group of trustees to continue carrying forward the responsibilities of the trust. The new trustees will be a younger group whom we are confident will help keep our cemetery maintained and attractive for many years to come. We are grateful for their willingness to take on this responsibility. The replacement trustees and revision of the trust agreement will be announced at the April 2 get-together.
When we meet on April 2, our duties will include the first spring mowing, filling in of low spots and straightening or leveling grave markers as needed. As noted earlier lane re-graveling should be minimal. We may trim some of the low branches on the cedar tree which will greatly benefit mowing directly beneath the tree. Of course, our greatest need for the coming year will be volunteers for mowing and trimming. We solicit your help in picking up a period during the year for mowing as we did in 2015.
The culvert pipe installation should be our last major improvement for the foreseeable future. Other maintenance to consider at a later time is replacement of rusted sections of the horizontal tubing in the chain-link fence and planting of some trees near the entry gate. We are also considering enhancing our page by adding a web site link to post documents such as the cemetery map, family history, genealogies, etc., which is not easily done in Facebook.
As always, our most grateful appreciation for your interest and involvement in keeping our little cemetery operational and attractive.
