Thank you to all the volunteers who joined us for our fall clean-up day of the cemetery grounds on Saturday, October 4. I’d especially like to thank Steve Casaleggio and Linda Kestner who hauled-away 65 bags of leaves to be used as mulch, and Erik from Public Works who picked-up many more piles of leaves and downed branches. We wouldn’t be able to maintain the cemetery grounds without the help of all our wonderful volunteers, so please know how much we appreciate your support and help. Our next scheduled Community Clean-up Day is Saturday, March 14, 2015, from 9:00am until 12noon.
Meet the Pioneers 2014 Recap—This year offered another impressive program that left our guests asking for more. We played to sell-out crowds on both evenings, with some 600 + attending.
Following the tour, many guests remarked that they didn’t think we could top last year’s event! This year, we had perfect weather and our players, guides, and support staff worked together like a well-oiled machine… and our guests were the perfect audience appreciating every moment of their tour. This year, I can honestly say there isn’t a thing I would have changed. This event requires a lot of volunteers and support from the community, all of which happened! Please accept my sincere appreciation and gratitude to the following for their assistance and support: the residents and staff of Pioneer Village for the use of their bus and drivers Kacie, Jeanne, and Franklin, the residents of PV for being our guests for our dress rehearsal, Sandi and Maryl at the Jacksonville Chamber and Visitors Center for handling tickets sales, Kathy Waltz for preparing the tickets for sale and assisting with sales, Whit and Andrea at the Jacksonville Review for promotion, Mayor Becker and City Council, our cemetery neighbors for their understanding and patience, the Oregon Old Time Fiddlers and the 4th Wednesday String Band, Ann Wilton, Renaissance Rose and Emily Inget with OSF for their assistance with costumes, the Cemetery Players, our volunteers who asked, “What do you need done,” our hosts and hostess who fed and cared for our volunteers, the guides who safely took our guests around the tour route, the volunteers in the Ticket and Boarding area who processed tickets, Bill and Debbie Miller for their photos and DVD production, Ron Moore for his photos of the Players and the event, the Southern Oregon Historical Society and Jackson County Genealogy Libraries, and of course our dedicated audience.
Proceeds from this event, our only major fundraiser, will allow us to take on another big restoration project early next spring. Thanks to one and all for helping make this program so successful and keeping Jacksonville’s history alive. Our 10th-Anniversary presentation of Meet the Pioneers will be on Friday, October 9, and Saturday, October 10, 2015.
Silent City on the Hill—The first book written and published about the history of the Jacksonville Cemetery, Silent City on the Hill, by Bill Miller, is available at the Jacksonville Visitor’s Center, Segway of Jacksonville, the Southern Oregon Historical Research Library and online at www.createspace.com/4848293.
You may also request a signed copy by the author, Bill Miller, by sending an email to the Friends of Jacksonville’s Historic Cemetery at info@friendsjvillecemetery.org. Books cost $15 and will make great holiday gifts for family and friends alike. For your out-of-town house guests looking for something special to do, put a copy of the book in the guestroom and then point them in the direction of our beautiful cemetery to explore. Proceeds from the sales of the book benefit the FOJHC and our restoration and preservation projects.
Dirk Siedlecki is President of Friends of Jacksonville's Historic Cemetery. Visit the website at