Friends of the Pine Island Cemetery:
A Pine Island man, Rice Hamlin, bought a lot from the Pine Island Cemetery in the 1890’s. A lot is six individual burial plots. He paid the going rate of $10.00 for the lot which is included in our perpetual care agreement! You can see by that example what effect inflation has on our obligation to maintain and improve the cemetery perpetually (forever).
We have much to be thankful for like the volunteer help, including the Cemetery Board, whose members contribute a lot of time, not only for meetings and committee work, but for grounds work too.
An example of a volunteer that we are unable to thank, as we don’t know who did this, is the person who placed the beautifully painted watering jugs around the cemetery. They were hand painted designs of flowers, birds and other nature scenes that contributed so much to the experience of visiting the cemetery.
While we need and appreciate the volunteers, we also genuinely need financial contributions to build our cemetery fund. We welcome contributions in any amount to be used for maintenance and grounds improvements and fund replenishment. You may choose from a one time gift, or an annual gift (we will send a reminder), and please consider us in your estate plans.
Your gift will go to needs like lawn and tree care. While we are blessed with old, large tree specimens, they require maintenance procedures like trimming and removal of damaged parts. There is a need to remove unattractive or dead and dying shrubs and trees. We will need to make replacement plantings and intend to plant sight and sound barrier “tall hedges” on the highway 52 side and the Land O Lakes side. This will require hundreds of trees and a volunteer planting effort. There is also a need for repair and straightening of old stones whose family caretakers are long gone. This is important for the history and record of the cemetery and we have folks volunteering to straighten and repair them, but materials and machinery are needed also. These are just some of the ambitious goals we have set for the cemetery.
We get many compliments on the beauty of the Pine Island Cemetery and I’m sure you’ve noticed that beauty yourself. Your flowers and memorials are part of that attractiveness. We have the advantage of generous work done over the past one hundred years; planting the white pines and other trees that form areas of canopy that reach to the sky like spires, creating an aura of serene reverence. I’m sure you would like to be a part of this generation’s effort to do their part to enhance and improve the cemetery for future generations. We know the cemetery is more than a final resting place and a spot of memorial; it is a destination for quiet walks, contemplation and history lessons.
Through careful spending and some help from the City of Pine Island, we were just able to break even in 2005, spending all our lot sales and service fee money. This Cemetery Board is very involved and active and we have many volunteers but we can’t rely on the same opportunities in the future. We must build our fund to a point that the average interest rate we receive will cover the expenses of professional services, if needed. To accomplish this we will need to nearly triple our current fund balance. the expenses of maintenance and the improvement initiatives we’re aggressively pursuing require support from people like you.
I’ve mentioned our volunteers several times. Another example of our efforts is the lawn care. For many years we have contracted the job for as much as $20,000 and had mixed success at a recent cost of about $12000 per year. We realized that one of the few ways that board actions could increase our fund was to cut costs and mowing was our greatest expense. Our solution is to do the mowing ourselves. With low paid volunteers we should be able to get a better job and preserve about $5000 - $6000 per year. Even with equipment purchase, we will still save money the first year. We have purchased the mower and are overjoyed that 15 people have offered a significant part of their summer to help us! We also feel this will improve the quality and timeliness of the mowing. As you can see we are making every effort we can think of to spend wisely and save, but we still need help from you, the friends of the Pine Island Cemetery.
There are other needs such as records preservation. Many of our records are on paper and much of it is yellowing and deteriorating. This is another priority of the board and we have some help from the city. If you would like to discuss other needs or issues, please talk to any board member.
I sincerely believe that you can envision a financially sound, more beautiful cemetery in Pine Island than we now have. I know you will take pride in being part of that project. Please join us in this effort.
Thank you for taking the time to consider our needs and thanks to all that you have done as an individual or community volunteer. We appreciate any contribution and thank you for it. We welcome your feedback about our cemetery and our efforts to improve it.
The Pine Island Cemetery Board,
President – Larry D. Stoddard
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