Jacksonville Review – February 2026

WELCOME TO 2026… we hope you enjoyed the holiday season!

We begin by highlighting some key accomplishments of the Friends of Jacksonville’s Historic Cemetery from the year just passed, with thanks to all those whose efforts made them possible:

History Programs:

  • Five History Saturday talks and tours, coordinated and emceed by Ellen Martin:
  1. The Chinese in Jacksonville’s History, presented by Lynn Ransford and Anne Peugh
  2. Scandalous Stories in the Cemetery, by Carolyn Kingsnorth and
    Steve Carolis
  3. Victorian Etiquette from Birth to Death, by Roan Reed and
    Ellen Martin
  4. Jacksonville’s Jewish Community in the 1800s, by Lynn Ransford and
    Anne Peugh
  5. Early Farmers and Ranchers in the Rogue Valley, by Pam Smith and Teresa Smith
  • Gravesite Flags for Our Veterans (Memorial Day to Veterans Day), led by Bev Smith
  • Memorial Day Patriotic Exhibit at Jacksonville Library, coordinated by Eric Rogers
  • Visitor Information Brochures updated and continuously available at no charge. (Overview/Walking Tour; Civil War Veterans in the JHC; The Chinese in Jacksonville’s History)
  • Gravesite Storyboards (four additional installations in 2025), led by Dee Reynar. (All seventeen storyboards are now viewable on the Friends website as Pioneer Stories)

Grounds Maintenance Programs:

  • Two Community Clean-Up Days, led by FOJHC Board members and Sexton, Rick Shields
  • 170 Adopt-A-Block plots cared for by volunteers, managed by
    Eric Rogers

Cemetery Fixtures Maintenance Programs:

  • Five Marker Cleaning Workshops, organized and led by Dee and Ken Reynar. (Volunteers contributed 135 hours of labor and cleaned 148 cemetery markers)

We also welcomed Ellen Martin to the Friends board in 2025, and John Jorgenson as the new City Council liaison to the Cemetery Committee, now led by Butch Frost and co-chaired by Friends President Eric Rogers. The Committee, with Sexton Rick Shields, is planning for expansion of the cemetery and continuing the program to remove hazardous trees in the City and Red Men sections of the cemetery for the safety of visitors and fixtures alike.

Our complete “Report Card for 2025” will be available on the Friends’ website (About tab) soon.

2026 Year of the Horse Lunar New Year Celebration, Saturday, February 21st, 10am-3pm—events at New City Hall, Jacksonville Community Center, Art Presence Art Center, and Jacksonville Public Library; and sponsored by the Southern Oregon Chinese Cultural Association). While this event is not affiliated with the FOJHC, copies of our informative brochure, The Chinese in Jacksonville’s History, are available free of charge in the cemetery at the entrance to the Interpretive Center and in town at the Visitor Information Center near the Post Office.

Please check our website at friendsjvillecemetery.org for future events and programs.

Featured image: Storyboard in the Ish Family Block, IOOF 391. Photo by Dick Meyers, FOJHC