Last week I stood in a driving rain among the majestic pines and headstones of the Deansboro Cemetery as another local family laid their precious loved one to rest in the hallowed ground. For over 20 years, now as a Cemetery Association Vice-President, eclipsing my grandfather, William Bishopp’s service to the community, I have shed many tears in my volunteer role preparing this sod for internment.
As a member of this community, WCS graduate, son of an Army veteran, husband, father, father-in-law of an American veteran, grandfather and farmer whose ancestors are buried here, including my little brother Scott, the emotional duty to the people is very hard as I interact with countless families I’ve grown up with on these somber days of grief.
This journey of local service is not unlike my predecessors who started this sacred place in 1801 where folks worked together in the once hayfields, postulated how to pay for things and gathered every Sunday to pray together. The history shows on the land, in the yearly journals and on the headstones who gave their sweat equity to keep family memories alive and veterans honored. I hold dear, this legacy of caring for such a spiritual place.
From being the familiar face, discussing arrangements, removing the sod or excavating for an ern to be placed in the ground, it’s a solemn, emotional, rollercoaster that many don’t realize or fully appreciate on a volunteer’s body and mind. Naively, I thought it was just a job but this perpetual care is an oath to honor. It’s a legacy and responsibility to carry integrity forward for the next generations. “We must not forget” is a creed that cannot be compromised.
The cold rain and the memories of emotionally-taxing funerals has me reflecting on the purpose of being an on call volunteer. Is there any real appreciation for this service and folks like me who steward these lands in our community?
In giving the family space to mourn, I wandered through the pines and saw work to be done. Nothing huge but gnawing. Some headstones have toppled over from crumbling bases, driveways need some maintenance, Norway Spruce bows interfere with mowing and vehicles, the chapel’s roof needs attention, a receptacle for green waste is on the docket and there is some poignant painting that would help the old iron. It seems a bit daunting for a 60 year old to see real work ahead while our association is forced to pinch pennies for supplies and personnel to make a place where folks, want and need, to visit and grieve in peaceful reflection.
I’m heartbroken over the Brookfield Cemetery situation and the hard choices that must be made to steward a community treasure. Unfortunately our area cemeteries and their aging-out volunteers are at a critical juncture for the future of perpetual maintenance. We need younger people stepping up who brainstorm diverse strategies of cooperation and funding strategies. I believe it’s time for a statewide conversation on this issue.
Like many cemeteries, ours is running on legacy financial resources that can’t keep up with rising mowing costs, low interest rates and state-mandated fees which yield barely anything back to the locales. I haven’t seen a headstone maintenance grant or support to vie for from the NYS Division of Cemeteries in years. We are becoming the forgotten soil soldiers taking care of the fallen.
The NYS Cemetery Board (who we are bound to by law) strictly instructs us to invest in the safest, most conservative FDIC insured investment portfolio possible. It’s an important strategy. However, as a custodian on a local cemetery association, these long-time financial resources are essentially producing little towards maintenance, insurance or improvements and forcing many boards to consider an abandonment strategy to the towns and taxpayers for basic upkeep.
Since annual plot sales and burial fees just keep the gates open, donations dollars are key to keeping the grass cut. Volunteers like myself, vigilant in financial, environmental and social responsibility to our local community are appealing to you for an investment into the maintenance fund of your local cemetery that appreciate trustees who volunteer their time and equipment to fill in where needed. We don’t ask for your support lightly, as many in the community are in need.
Your Deansboro Cemetery Board of Trustees wish to thank you for past donations and would ask you to look back to where your roots are and please consider making a charitable, tax-deductible monetary gift or estate-planned donation this year to help preserve and enhance this special place for generations to come, as it was entrusted to us over 200 years ago.
Thank you for your continued support.
Sincerely,
Troy Bishopp, Vice-President of the Deansboro Cemetery Association 2809 Rt. 12B Deansboro, NY 13328
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