Cemetery cleanup continues

Another gravestone-cleaning session was held at St. Mary’s Cemetery in Lake Church on July 17, and now Kevin Wester, leader of the effort, has a deadline to finish.

He wants all 1,200 tombstones cleaned by August 2022, when the dedication of the St. Mary’s Bell Memorial is slated to be held.

Three bells from the adjacent St. Mary’s Church were saved by passionate parishioners of the shuttered church that is for sale. A fourth bell from the former school is being sent to new Salvatorian Catholic secondary school in Masasi, Tanzania, where Father Jim Weyker from Lake Church spent decades as a missionary.

“We believe we can do this because we are cleaning the oldest graves first. They are the dirtiest and most worn and take the most time,” Wester said.

On July 17, about 25 volunteers came ready to work. Some were veterans and some were new.

“We made another nice dent in the gravestone-cleaning goal,” Wester said.

The next cleaning session is from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 28. Cleaning will continue next spring, Wester said.

The capital campaign to build the bell memorial has raised $150,000 of its $250,000 goal. For more information, visit thebellsofstmarys.org or the group’s Facebook page.