Left untouched for a century or longer, a number of tombstones at the old Iola Cemetery on the west edge of town had begun to tilt or show other signs of disrepair.
The city has taken steps to repair dozens of those leaning the most or toppled altogether.
Since the project started earlier this year, crews have straightened or leveled nearly 80 stones or installed more than 90 new concrete bases for other stones in the cemetery, Parks and Cemetery Superintendent Berkley Kerr said.
“And this is just the tip of the iceberg,” he said, noting that crews targeted the most extreme tombstones first.
“If you walk down any of these rows, you can still see several that are leaning,” Kerr said. “This is a project that could go on as long as the city wants it to.”
THE PROJECT’S impetus came after the city hired Williams Monuments in 2010 to straighten a series of stones in the veterans section at Highland Cemetery for about $15,000.
The effort drew rave reviews, which prompted then City Commissioner and current mayor Bill Shirley to inquire about doing other stones both at Highland and Iola cemeteries. Commissioners set a $5,000 per-year budget for the endeavor.
“It became evident that we could do much of the work in-house,” Kerr said.
The city reached an agreement with Payless Concrete to provide the bases. City employees handle the rest with a backhoe, a tractor with a lift and several nylon straps to lift the heavier stones and small trucks to haul supplies.
A three-man crew is most efficient, Kerr said, “and we haven’t found a stone too big for us to handle yet.”
As a result, the work has cost the city about $1,700 in supplies.
“We’re making the money stretch as far as we can,” Kerr said.
KERR was uncertain whether the abnormally dry weather this year, or the wetter than normal years prior, had much to do with the leaning tombstones.
He suspects it has more to do with the wooden caskets used without concrete tombs decades ago or the timing in which the stones are placed. He also notes that stones placed too soon after burials tend to lean more frequently, because the ground hasn’t fully settled.
The project will be ongoing as long as crews have spare time from other tasks, Kerr said, and monies remain in the budget.
