Volunteers beautify the Plains Cemetery

PLAINS - Wednesday, under a clear blue sky and a slight breeze, volunteers from the Plains community beautified and prepared the town’s graveyard in preparation for Memorial Day.

Ken Jones, the grounds keeper, described what was accomplished during the day. “We planted about 15 different zones with about 2,000 plants, 120 of them were trees and shrubs.”

He explained that the goal of the huge planting and clearing of land was for redesigning the layout of the graveyard in order to take care of it in a shorter amount of time.

“What we are doing is taking property that takes literally days to weed-eat and turning it into something viable so that we don’t have to weed-eat it,” Jones said. He then said that he will have more money and days to focus on the lawn.

Jones then said that a majority of the plants that were put in were also deer resistant and that he has been working with the Department of Natural Resources and Conservation - Weed Control to focus on which type of chemicals to use to help clean up the graveyard.

After the volunteers had completed their job, Jones said, “They hit it in force and they beautified it.” He wanted to really make it known that two individuals, Howard Martin and Wayne Rummel, put in hundreds of hours of work into helping with the premises.

“They really need to be exemplified... they were the ones that came in and actually created the beds for us.”

Martin and Rummel also repaired 150 graves and will be doing it again this year, Jones added.

Someone who stayed a little bit longer to really make sure the job was done and to pay special attention to a couple graves was Cheryl Cuddy.

“My family is buried here... My husband is right over there... This is kind of a special place for me,” Cuddy said solemnly, but also with tone ease and joy that she was able to take the time to help maintain her family’s sites. She then said that it was a beautiful day to be able to come and take care of the site.