Our Dearly Departed

With the dedication of the Pioneer Baptist Cemetery on SR 97 northwest of the library on Friday and the Dearly Departed workshop at OGS on Saturday, we got our fill of death and dying subjects! Mark Morton of Shelby joined the OGS Cemetery Committee while an OSU intern at the library and took on a project to properly restore what was known as Strausbaugh Baptist Cemetery at the southeast edge of Lexington just over the line in Washington Townshp. There were only two stones standing but now, everything is erect and repaired, after much archaeological excavation, tree and brush removal, studying old WPA cemetery maps, and a lot of work. These photos show the Bellville Legion Post at the dedication, past OGS President Paul Morehouse standing with Mark Morton, a descendant of Charles Boner kneeling next to his ancestor's 1830 tombstone, OGS President Sunda Peters and Trustee Deb Jeffers accepting an Ohio Buckeye Cemetery Preservation Award, the tombstone of War of 1812 veteran Samuel McClure 1833 which was provided with a War of 1812 marker by the Daughters of 1812, and a wider view of the local veterans and the restored cemetery.

Then on Saturday, several students attended the Dearly Departed workshop, a series of classes on wills and estates, death records, funeral homes, writing your obituary, memory medallions, and more. We had our fill of coffin-shaped brownies and all kinds of pie from our local V&M restaurant! After the classes, the instructors gathered for a picture - Deanna Applegate, Marlene Applegate, funeral director Tom Neel, Susan Zacharias, and Margaret Cheney. Many tears were shed for the deceased.

Please check the OGS web site and sign up for the next cemetery restoration workshop to be held on the Bob Evans farm at Rio Grande with classes in Gallipolis on October 19th and 20th. There are still spots available. Walt and Mickie Walters from Graveyard Groomers in Indiana will again give students a hands-on explanation of cemetery tombstone repair - all the problems involved and the methods to solve them.