Help in keeping our local cemetery “alive”
From Jan Bierman Talbett, Cemetery Treasurer, photo from Wreaths Across America in Whitesville
As some of you may know, Elton Harris has graciously set up an endowment to help preserve the longevity of the cemetery for many years to come. Along with what has already been donated, he is willing to match up to $20,000 worth of donations received before May 25th.
After fielding a few questions, I feel the need to clarify this a bit further. This may be long, but please bear with me.
Donations sent to Elton will go into the Preservation Fund for future us. Donations sent to the Whitesville Rural Cemetery Association will be used to keep our cemetery maintained now.
You can Donate online here!!
Be sure to designate the Whitesville Rural Cemetery Fund
When I first came on board as the treasurer many years ago, the cemetery had only enough money to see us through a year, which put it in danger of being turned over to the town.
The town is not in the cemetery business. If a cemetery is turned over to the town, by law they must only mow it three times a year. Imagine what it would look like at that point. It’s many times mowed 3 times before Memorial Day. If the town were to be forced to take the cemetery over, the upkeep would in turn, fall on to we, the taxpayers.
I sent out a plea to the townspeople asking for your help in keeping our cemetery “alive”. The response was nothing short of a miracle. Donations came from one end of the country to another, not only from current residents, but those who grew up and moved away, yet wanted to see their ancestor’s resting grounds well kept and still loved their hometown.
With those donations, and many who have continued to donate on an annual basis, we have been able to keep the cemetery looking beautiful.
Although, to be perfectly honest, many of those donors have passed away and we are now finding ourselves once again, heading towards dire straights. Luckily, this plea also led Elton to become an active part of the cemetery association and create this endowment.
Due to rising costs, the cemetery will be lucky to make it through next year. These costs will only continue to rise.
While The Harris Fund will allow us to look many years into the future, I feel the need to stress that there will still be a need for several thousands of dollars above what we will be able to access from the fund each year.
Quite frankly, society has shifted from tradition burials and many are not burying their family members, which in turns leaves very little income coming into the cemetery.
I am attaching Elton’s letter, and greatly thank him for his contribution and efforts!! Please think about donating to whichever aspect of his plea you feel comfortable with.
If you have any questions at all about the cemetery that I may be able to help with as treasurer, please do not hesitate to contact me. Don’t forget you can donate online here.
The annual Cemetery meeting will be April 24th @ 6 pm. The public is welcome to attend.
