LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Grave Markers in Disrepair at Fraley Cemetery
Posted June 10, 2024
Dear Editor:
Your local cemetery may not be top of mind – until you need to lay a friend or family member to rest. Or you may be one who notices how pristine the grass looks as you drive by. Let us be honest, cemetery maintenance isn’t something you really think about. If you hear about gravestones in poor shape, or falling over, you are probably dismissing it thinking “old colonial” “in the middle of the woods somewhere”.
I write to draw your attention to the state of the old graves in Fraley graveyard. Fraley, like many cemeteries, are in need of some serious TLC because they have not been treated with the respect and attention they deserve. Monuments have toppled and been left in the dirt and trees to crumble. Other stones have been tossed in a pile, leaned against stumps so they don’t interfere with mowing. No one is caring for them. Loved one’s markers are being treated as trash and a nuisance.
How do I know this? Why do I care? As an amateur genealogist, I believe that the markers left are links to a different time and culture that we need to be mindful of, learn from and care for. Markers were chosen and placed with love in hopes that family members would never be forgotten and forever celebrated My great great grandparents called Taylorville home in their early marriage.
Their five children were born here – three are buried in Fraley Cemetery. These babies were lost to time. I knew “of” their existence due to a box filled in an old census and the where to start looking from a clipping in my grandmother’s scrapbook. It was thanks to some local people that I was able to connect that I have been able to see the state of the old cemetery. And it is because of local people, that I will be able to preserve my family’s monument. If I waited til fall, I may have been too late - Erma, Mettie and Ross Bell would have been lost.
It is these old cemeteries that tell the stories of war, influenza, the bitter winters, lifelong loves and high mortality rates of mothers and young babies. These cemeteries are a snapshot of our story – our history. We all have the responsibility to look after the cemeteries in our communities. Families may have moved away, but they have placed their trust in their community to continue to care for their loved ones – the same way you have placed your trust in the cemetery and community where you have recently buried your loved one.
My letter today intended as a call to action to the community of Taylorville and surrounding area. Save your old cemeteries. Ensure they are properly cared for and respected. Do not let any more markers get lost and with them the last trace of many of our early family members and their neighbours.
Respectfully,
Sandi Urban
Great-great granddaughter of Joseph B. Bell & Hattie Lowrance
Martensville, Saskatchewan Canada
