The Board of Directors of the Friends of Jacksonville’s Historic Cemetery, is truly honored and pleased to announce the receipt of a very special memorial gift. This amazing gift was made to the FOJHC by Catherine Steigerwald, in memory of her husband, Hermann E. Steigerwald, who passed away in 2015.

Catherine, who has been a supporter of the FOJHC for a number of years, wanted to fund a special project in Hermann’s memory—something she and I had been talking about for the last couple of years. One possibility I recently mentioned was the plan to move forward with a Cemetery Kiosk project. Catherine then announced that she wanted to  support and help fund it.  Her generous and substantial gift covered the entire cost of our new Cemetery Kiosk pavilion including the concrete foundation, building materials and construction costs. This will allow us to move on to the next phase of the project much sooner than we expected. That next step will include the placement of block number signs along the roadways and a cemetery map in the new pavilion.  Thank you to Catherine for this wonderful gift to our cemetery and the community. It will benefit family members and visitors for many years to come. I am most confident that Hermann would be pleased and proud.

This month, please join us for our June events and activities in the cemetery. For all events, we encourage you to dress for the weather and bring along a hat, sunscreen, bug spray and other comfort items. Although there is no charge for any events, your donations are always appreciated and are used to continue the work of restoring and maintaining our historic cemetery.

June Cemetery Events

• Saturday, June 8, 10:00am, History Saturday in the Cemetery:
“Unique and Interesting Jacksonville Women”

• Tuesday, June 11, 6:30pm, Tuesday Evening Cemetery Stroll:
“What in the World was Happening When They Passed”

• Saturday, June 15, 9:00am, Marker Cleaning Workshop:
A helpful and fun volunteer project.

As always, please find more info at: www.friendsjvillecemetery.org.

Featured image is of Nolan Briggs, Dirk Siedlecki and Mike Lower at the construction phase of the kiosk.