Friends of Jacksonville’s Historic Cemetery Update – December 2022/January 2023

Sincere appreciation and gratitude to all our dedicated volunteers and many supporters for making 2022 another successful year for the Friends of Jacksonville’s Historic Cemetery. Our History Saturday in the Cemetery programs, May through September, were very well received and were enjoyed by all attending. Several individual tours for home-school groups and the Bend Porsche Car Club were conducted by our volunteer docents. Volunteers, some 200, in our Adopt-A-Block program, have done an outstanding job in caring for their block(s) and keeping the cemetery grounds neat and safe. Community clean-up days in March, May and October helped remove debris from areas we don’t always get to. Volunteers from the community—Boosters Club, Rotary Club, Scouts, Jacksonville Troop 17 and Pack 3017, and Friends of the Cemetery worked side-by-side in cleaning up the grounds. Additionally, restoration work on headstones, monuments and other cemetery fixtures continued including the complete rebuilding of several blocks such as the Love, McClain, and White with the Pape/Prim block currently finishing-up. Appreciation to our volunteers who helped place flags at the grave sites of our Veterans prior to Memorial Day and then remove them following Veterans Day. Our appreciation to the group of volunteers who created the wonderful and well-received Story Boards placed at eleven locations in 2022. Plans call for more to be added in 2023. I would also like to express my appreciation to all of you who have and continue to support the work of our organization through your donations. As we approach the end of the year, please consider making a tax-deductible donation to the Friends of Jacksonville’s Historic Cemetery and supporting our local non-profit organization.

I will be providing our annual report card in the February 2023 Jacksonville Review with a recap of what was accomplished in 2022 and what all the volunteer hours covered.

Meet the Pioneers 2022—Thank you to our outstanding cast, fourteen strong, for a very interesting, fun, and informative Meet the Pioneers program that was enjoyed by a sold-out audience on October 7 and 8. Supporting our Players was a group of forty-plus volunteers who made this year’s production run like clockwork. There is so much that goes on behind the scenes and months before the actual tours such as our Research Committee reviewing and selecting potential stories to be presented, preparing draft scripts for the Players, and then working with them. Players spent hours fine-tuning their presentations and rehearsing and working with our costumer, Ann Wilton, selecting the perfect costume. Time was also spent preparing the cemetery grounds for a safe and comfortable tour route and setting up on the hill as well as down in the ticket and boarding area. It takes a village of amazing volunteers to make this happen and the support of so many. Thank you to Pioneer Village and its residents, the Jacksonville Review and Peggy Dover, the City of Jacksonville and all of you who purchased tickets and attended.

Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas, the best and safest of Holidays and a Happy and Peaceful New Year!

Featured image: Group photo by Ken Gregg from our MTP’s 2022 program. A little different from the posed and serious shots. A fun photo with attention being directed to Michael Sneary by his fellow Players. Michael played the part of Patrick Ryan who enjoyed sunbathing in his birthday suit.