Reunion activities- 10

These activities are from many reunions, reported first in Reunions magazine. We invite you
to e-mail us your special reunion activities.

Honoring pioneers
Cemeteries are one of David Carter’s passions. Carter lives 35 miles southeast of Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada, and about an hour and a half northwest of Havre, Montana. One of his restored cemeteries draws more than 800 people each year for peace and solace. Some are small family groups who come to pay their respects to family graves.

Carter with his friend, Bob Brown, "adopted" 18 abandoned/neglected cemeteries in southeastern Alberta over the past four years. They say they do it "as a way to honor our pioneers, no matter what their ethnic or religious background."

Carter and Brown cleared cemeteries that had not been cleared for more than 60 years. They visit each site twice a year to mow and rake tall prairie grass. They planted spruce trees at the four interior corners of each site to mark cemetery location and parameters for future generations. People will be able to locate these prairie grave sites by the appearance of four evergreen trees standing sentinel in the midst of prairie wool. From time to time a few individuals help at various sites. And now the Elkwater Hutterite Colony helps maintain four abandoned cemeteries located on their land.

Yet another friend who is a funeral monument workman helps repair tombstones and makes historic markers to identify the original name and years of operation of each cemetery/church site. They use surplus granite bases from World War II German/Austrian POW graves which were once in Hillside Cemetery in Medicine Hat.

Carter says it all began in 1976 when he discovered an abandoned Anglican/Episcopalian church and cemetery at the west end of the Cypress Hills in Alberta. Over the years Carter and others restored the tiny church and maintained its cemetery. They turned the neglected area into an off-the-beaten-track place of peace and beauty. They provided two picnic tables, a couple of benches, a horseshoe pit, a tiny-tots and old folks baseball diamond and "the only outdoor toilet for 35 miles in all directions — a very useful convenience!"

The isolated cemeteries have an annual reunion work party in early July. "A number of the descendants of graveyard ‘residents’ come and take extra care with graves of their relatives," Carter reports. About 125 people attend a brief outdoor church service followed by a garage sale to help pay for maintenance and free lunch (including beer!). They’ve been doing the work party/service for almost 24 years and the sale/lunch for eight years. They also have horseshoes, baseball, kite flying and campfires. Carter prints ribbons with the year printed on them and distributes them to everyone.
At one of the reclaimed sites a cemetery "resident’s" adult grandchild, his wife and children have become some of the best workers and have adopted the cemetery. They clear it at least twice a year. Carter says his "hobby/passion" is a great way for a couple of retired guys to get some exercise, to enjoy the outdoors and to say thank you to the past.

Transcribe tombstones
Tombstones were meant as lasting memorials but old cemeteries suffer the ravages of time and weather. Many stones are difficult to read and some are already so faint that deciphering them is impossible.

It is imperative to record tombstone inscriptions before they are lost forever to wind, rain and vandalism. The Tombstone Transcription Project encourages people to survey cemeteries and donate survey copies to the USGenWeb Project Archives for posterity.

There is a web page and coordinator for every state. Send recordings to the USGenWeb Tombstone Project manager for the appropriate state. Find state coordinators at http://rootsweb.com/~cemetery/registry.html.
Contact Pamela Reid, National Tombstone Project Coordinator, 4265 Berwick Pl, Lake Ridge VA 22192; 703-878-0407; pamreid@home.com; http://rootsweb.com/~cemetery.

Virtual cemetery shares tombstone images online
Genealogists can now share images of the most permanent records available — tombstones — without traveling.

Virtual Cemetery (www.genealogy.com/vcem_welcome.html) is the first online tombstone archive that shares tombstone images of ancestors. Enthusiasts may post and browse tombstone images worldwide in this easy-to-search, free archive. Cemetery inscriptions are key to the genealogy research puzzle as the most permanent, inclusive, and accessible records available. Birth and death information is literally chiseled in stone.

Virtual Cemetery contains continuously updated, user-generated content that is unique and difficult to duplicate. Images are filed geographically, and include text transcribed from the tombstone. You can locate tombstone images by geographic location or by content.

Virtual Cemetery users may also use this service as an online memorial to loved ones.

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