Hello,
I appreciate William showing the pictures of the graveyard to all of you. Our committee
is excited that residents of the area are now going for a look at the cemetery. Many
didn't even know it existed, even though it is the final resting place for most of our
earliest settlers along with 18 Civil War and 2 War of 1812 vets.
Our committee is made up of myself, Steve Croyle, Mayor of Winchester, Monisa Wisener,
Bobby Manning, Eurby Grubbs, Phil DeHaven and Tammy Sears. While most of our work has
been behind the scenes, researching and planning, we are all very active now in fund
raising.
Mark and Helen, the professional restorers involved with the project, came to Winchester
to clean and reset the "Our Jonnie" stone, made famous by the movie "Now
and Then" , written by a former resident of Winchester. Once they got here they went
a little crazy, much to our delight, and found 80 stones and in doing so added 32 names to
our list of known burials. We are now up to 199 persons.
The Randolph County Historical Society has adopted our project so we are now under their
tax exempt umbrella.
Anyone wishing to make a donation may do so by sending a tax exempt check to: Old
Winchester Cemetery Restoration Project, c/o Sharon E. Smith, 251 E.Washington St.,
Winchester, IN 47394.
Our immediate goal is to raise to raise $20,000 so that all the stones under and above the
ground can be found, repaired, cleaned and reset. Work can begin in the spring if we have
the funds by then.
Thanks to everyone for your interest.
Sharon E. Smith