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Cemetery association kicks off projects

Tribune Chronicle / Bob Coupland Mary Lou O’Lear, a member of the Newton Cemetery Association, left, serves food to Dot Paisley of Newton Falls, at a recent fundraiser at Newton Falls First Christian Church. The association is beginning improvement projects at area cemeteries, including chapel repairs at East Side Cemetery.

Tribune Chronicle

NEWTON FALLS — With recent warmer weather, the Newton Cemetery Association has begun improvement projects at the cemeteries including work at the chapel at East Side Cemetery.

Members of the association held a major fundraising dinner recently at the First Christian Church. The event marked its sixth year.

Robert Gensler, president of association, said the group is addressing the needs at the chapel which needs roof maintenance, tiles replaced, and other work to preserve the Terra Cota-style roofing.

“The goal is to retain the original appearance of the chapel.” he said.

Gensler said the association is in charge of upkeep and maintenance of the East Side Cemetery chapel while the township takes care of St. Michael’s Cemetery chapel.

Mary Lou O’Lear, association member, said this spring the association will clean the chapel and also do work at seven other cemeteries, including planting flowers near cemetery signs and straighten markers.

The cemeteries are West Side, East Side, St. Michael, Lutheran, Wilderson, Duck Creek and Pricetown.

O’Lear said she has done research on those buried at cemeteries including Ward Craig, the developer of Craig Beach, who is buried at West Side Cemetery. This information is being put into a computer database, she said.

Gensler said the database, which the trustees have helped fund, can be used for genealogy research.

Gensler said there is currently work being done on mapping the West Side Cemetery, with photos being taken of headstones to include in the database.

“We have been busy filling in the database and taking photos of the cemetery,” O’Lear said.

Rick Nelson, a member of the association and also of the American Legion, said there is data being recorded of the many veterans buried in the cemeteries

He said there are more than 500 World War II veteran graves with a total of 1,080 veterans from Civil War era to the present.

“We want to make sure the records are accurate as possible,” Gensler said. “We want to help people who want to look at records on their families.”

O’Lear said Linda Gordon volunteers on the second floor of the Newton Falls Public Library to help people with genealogy and other research.

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