To all, and especially to Lois:
Monitoring the messages on INPCRP has been a difficult task this spring,
with the many cemeteries we've lost. I just want to let you all, and
especially Lois, know how much I appreciate having you as a support
system in this task. Lois, your unfailing hard work, devotion, guidance
and encouragement mean more to me than I can tell you. And to all the
rest, it's good to know that when my small team is out there wading
through icy creeks and hacking down brambles, there are others just like
us around the state and around the nation who also care enough to spend
their free time doing the same.
The word from Morgan County has been pretty stable since I began this
work in 1995. While our old cemeteries are continuing to slowly
deteriorate due to neglect, we have not actually lost any to
deveopment. And we have a much better handle on where they are, what
condition they're in, and who owns them. We have documentation for each
one - tombstone listings, WPA plats, veterans lists, photographs, GPS
locations, deed records. And by being out there, knocking on neighbors'
doors and visiting the cemeteries, we've let the people of Morgan County
know that someone knows about that cemetery back in the woods, and cares
about it.
The fact that our efforts here in Morgan County are being duplicated all
over the state is a great encouragement to us. And we so much
appreciate Lois' support, lobbying efforts, and guidance.
Thanks, all of you, and especially ... thanks, Lois!
Dale Drake
Morgan Co History & Genealogy Assn
Cemetery Committee
Dear Dale and my other Friends on the INPCRP:
I, for one, am VERY encouraged that your work has progressed so well in Morgan
Co. When all is said and done, if nothing else, all of you who work so hard
out there in the "trenches" have done an AMAZING job of tracking down old,
forgotten cemeteries. I think there will be a star in each of your crowns for
every old cemetery you visited in this life.
We obviously can't save them all, but we can try to at least FIND them all,
can't we?
Very best regards to each and every one of you.
Lois