Maintenance, upkeep growing issues for cemeteries near and far

Toppled headstones of a husband and wife long deceased. Ivy hiding the identities of babies who never reached age 1. Faded flowers left by a daughter who has since died herself. These scenes are becoming more common as the nation and its cemeteries age.

On Memorial Day -- the busiest day of the year for cemeteries nationwide -- loved ones will flock to remember those gone before. They will place wreaths, flowers and other keepsakes on headstones, mausoleums and grave markers.

But what about the rest of the year?

Maintenance is a continuing problem and has been since cemeteries began, said LaDonna Garner, historic preservation consultant and board-certified genealogist in Southeast Missouri. As the country ages, cemeteries grow and sometimes fade, creating problems such as abandonment and decline.

"As decades pass, descendants and congregations move, communities die or the congregation moves and there is no local interest left to care about the maintenance or conservation of the cemetery," she said.

Broken tombstones sit stacked together on the lawn Monday at Old Lorimier Cemetery in Cape Girardeau. (Laura Simon)

Descendants can go through the court system to take ownership, but if cemeteries have been abandoned, they can fall prey to eminent domain, Garner said. That means government can take over and convert them to public uses.

Several abandoned cemeteries can be found throughout the local region.

Commerce, Missouri, is home to a few pre-Civil War abandoned cemeteries. Shady Grove Cemetery, an African-American cemetery near Dutchtown, Missouri, also is abandoned.

Research has documented more than 240 burials dating from the 1880s through the 1970s at Shady Grove, including Civil War veterans, according to "Dark Woods and Periwinkle: A Glance Back at Shady Grove," published in 1998 by Diana Steele-Bryant and Sharon Sanders, librarian for the Southeast Missourian.

A few broken stones are all that remain of the rural black community near Dutchtown and the area's former slaveholding estates.

Jackson Cemetery is seen Thursday, May 1, 2014 in Jackson. (Fred Lynch)

Garner said she places cemeteries in three basic categories: pioneer, which usually are church and family owned; government, municipality or federally owned; and commercial.

Many cities and towns will acquire or create cemeteries throughout their histories, making them responsible for upkeep and management. But many communities struggle with funding basic maintenance needs. Between an increase in fuel prices for equipment and the growing number of graves to tend, cities manage to meet basic needs in different ways.

Over the years, Morley, Missouri, acquired the Old Morley Cemetery, and Scott City acquired an American Indian cemetery and two additional historic cemeteries. Both municipalities maintain the grounds, according to city employees.

City owned cemeteries are required by law to maintain the properties, but the line is gray on just how much they must do.

"They have to maintain their cemeteries, but that does not mean they have to conserve or preserve it. Maintaining it comes down to the management and appearance of the cemetery itself," Garner said.

In 1961 Missouri passed the Endowed Care Fund Law designed to ensure that income will always be available for the maintenance and upkeep of a cemetery, according to the International Cemetery, Cremation and Funeral Association. The law required any new cemetery to set up an endowed fund or perpetual care fund to be used if the cemetery was ever abandoned or when the sales of plots ended, Garner said. Cemeteries created before the law went into effect were grandfathered in.

Laws regulate how the fund can be used, but the money should be invested so it continues to grow. Missouri statutes state only the income earned by the principal in the funds can be used by a cemetery authority to offset maintenance expenses.

For some local, city-owned cemeteries, funding for basic maintenance is difficult.

The city of Morley has two nonendowed cemeteries. One was acquired by the city decades ago and the first burial in the new cemetery was completed in 1960, before the Endowed Care Fund Law.

City clerk Theresa Hicks said upkeep of the cemetery is funded through donations, but they are supplemented by income from the sales of plots and burials.

This year's budget has $2,500 in donations, but the budget for just mowing the two cemeteries is $5,400. That doesn't include the cost for equipment repairs or salaries for gravediggers.

While Hicks said the city has enough funding to maintain the cemetery, there is no money for special projects, restoration or upgrades.

For Scott City, the situation isn't as dire. While burial plots can be purchased at only one cemetery, Scott City acquired two historic family or neighborhood cemeteries and an American Indian cemetery that is rumored to have an Indian princess buried in it, said city clerk Cindy Uhrhan.

A portion of residents' real estate and personal property taxes is earmarked for cemetery upkeep.

"Cemeteries are not sustainable if local taxes aren't collected," Garner said. "If the city only wants to cut the grass they can get by, but if the city is concerned with the conservation of the cemetery, it won't work."

For every $100 in assessed property value, 0.05 percent is put directly into the cemetery fund to maintain Scott City's four public cemeteries. This year's budget has approximately $17,000 listed for expenses and $33,000 listed for revenue, Uhrhan said.

Funds received from the cemetery tax are specially earmarked for mowing, taking care of damaged or old headstones and paying for the cemetery manager.

In Cape Girardeau, city-owned cemeteries are funded by the general revenue fund and have no specific cemetery tax, said Cape Girardeau cemetery coordinator Terrell Weaver, who added there is no perpetual fund for the cemeteries.

Lorimier, Old Lorimier and Fairmount are Cape Girardeau's publicly owned cemeteries.

"The maintenance of the cemetery costs more than what the cemetery makes each year," Weaver said.

Cape Girardeau receives money from sales of burial plots and the opening and closing of burial sites. The money received goes into the city's general revenue fund, and money from the general fund offsets the lack of cemetery revenue, Weaver said.

Only basic needs for Cape Girardeau's cemeteries, including mowing and other general maintenance, are budgeted, Weaver said.

Weaver would like to see a computerized system at each cemetery for visitors to find graves, but he said lack of funding has kept that from happening, although a list of all known burials is available.

"We run on a really close budget. Only basic needs are covered," he said.

Chaffee, Missouri, recently formed a cemetery board after Mayor Steve Loucks said the town's cemetery was becoming a problem. He said he hopes the board of interested citizens can come up with unique ways to help offset maintenance costs, which are paid for out of the general fund.

Councilwoman and board liaison Darlene Crocker said she would like to see a new sign and new mapping of the Union Park Cemetery, but the funding is just not there.

Recently, city workers were relieved of their duties to remove items from the cemetery twice a year, Crocker said. The board will now host a cemetery cleanup day to prepare the grounds for Memorial Day and to remove brush from property lines.

skluesner@semissourian.com

388-3648

Pertinent address:

Shady Grove Cemetery, Cape Girardeau, MO

Lorimier Cemetery, Cape Girardeau, MO

Old Lorimier Cemetery, Cape Girardeau, MO

Fairmount Cemetery, Cape Girardeau, MO

Old Morley Cemetery, Morley, MO

Union Park Cemetery, Chaffee, MO