Jacksonville Review – December 2025 / January 2026
FOR ALL OF US who enjoy taking part in the Friends of the Cemetery’s spring and fall clean up events, October’s Fall Cemetery Clean Up brought both good news and bad news. The bad news was the arrival of an “atmospheric river” overhead that brought heavy wind and rain to our area and kept most of us from breaking out our leaf rakes and blowers and, instead, recalling Scarlett O’Hara’s closing line in the film Gone with the Wind: “After all…tomorrow’s another day.”
The good news, however, came in two flavors: first, Clean Up event leader, Bradley Harris, along with FOJHC stalwarts, Teresa Hopkins and Butch Frost, declared, “rain or shine, it needs to be cleaned,” and then managed to fill some 25 leaf bags on their way to (as Bradley put it) “a thorough drenching”!
The other good news: the rainstorm brought down lots more leaves and pine needles, creating opportunities for even more leaf-raking fun in the cemetery! By the time you read this, even though a rescheduled Fall Clean Up event may have happened, please don’t hesitate to take advantage of nicer weather to make your way up the hill and tend to your Adopt-A-Block plots or other areas of the cemetery you see that need attention. Rakes and bags, as always, are available in the Sextons Tool House and Volunteer/Interpretive Center for your use. Thanks to all, especially Teresa, Butch and Bradley, for helping to keep the Jacksonville Historic Cemetery such a special place in our community!
As we write this in early November, and barring the untimely arrival of another “atmospheric river,” our next Friends event in the Jacksonville Historic Cemetery is scheduled for Thursday November 13 to retrieve the U.S. flags placed previously at gravesites to honor the over 400 Veterans at rest in the cemetery. The flags will be repaired or replaced as necessary, then stored for the winter until once again placed at Veterans gravesites for Memorial Day 2026. We hope the dry weather prevailed and, if you were able to join us for this event, we thank you for your help!
Finally, this has been another productive year for the FOJHC and our efforts, together, to help maintain our historic cemetery and honor our town’s history. As you plan your year-end giving, please consider a donation to help support current and future Friends’ programs: Friends of Jacksonville’s Historic Cemetery, PO Box 1541, Jacksonville, OR 97530
The FOJHC is a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation. Donations are tax deductible to individuals choosing to itemize deductions for federal or Oregon state income tax purposes.
Please check our website at friendsjvillecemetery.org for future events and programs.
Featured image: Touring in the IOOF Section, History Saturday, September 2025. Photo by: Eric Rogers, FOJHC