The Kindness of Friends and Strangers

Before the Cleanup - Photo by Corky Biggs

Before the Cleanup – Photo by Corky Biggs

The calls of concern and donations toward cleanup are coming in.  They are from friends and strangers, about in equal numbers.  One of the first checks came from a woman in Maryland whose father had lived in Long Beach.  As far as I know, her only connection to Oysterville and to our cemetery is through the occasional visit.  I’m not even sure how she heard about our troubles unless, perhaps, she gets the Chinook Observer online or in person.

The disaster has made the paper’s front page headlines two weeks in a row now and, each time, the articles have suggested getting in touch with me with offers of help.  And people have been doing exactly that!  We are so grateful – and by ‘we’ I mean, first and foremost The Oysterville Cemetery Association which, like all such groups here on the Peninsula, is composed of volunteers.  Aging ones, at that!  Also – ‘we’ is the greater ‘we’ of the entire Oysterville community and the ‘we’ who have loved ones buried up in the old graveyard.

Before the Cleanup - Photo by Corky Biggs

Before the Cleanup – Photo by Corky Biggs

It’s still hard for me to wrap my head around the fact that DPR Builder and Developers and Hill & Son Excavating, Inc. donated their equipment, their manpower, and their time to remove the huge spruce that fell across the road and onto the Stevens (no relation) gravesite.  What a wonderful community service!  And, as far as I know, neither firm has a direct connection with the cemetery, as in forebears buried there.

The closest connection I can make is that Pat Lucero (of DPR) and Parker Hill (of Hill & Son) were both students in my 1st/2nd/3rd grade classes at Ocean Park School back in the 1980s/1990s.  Undoubtedly, we took a field trip to Oysterville and maybe even went up to the cemetery.  Maybe.  Probably wishful thinking on my part, but it doesn’t matter how that seed of community service and caring might have been planted – they get our undying (no pun intended) appreciation and admiration.

Stevens Cemetery Plot - Drawing by Larry Weathers, 1978

Stevens Cemetery Plot – Drawing by Larry Weathers, 1978

Getting an evaluation of damage to the stones (which looks to be minimal) and how to fix them is a whole other ballgame.  The “only monument company in town” is not in town at all but in Astoria.  They are short of workers and won’t be able to be here for a month or more.  Actually we’ve had calls in to them for more than a year about other gravestone matters but, in this case, they have offered to provide advice with regard to stone adhesives etc. to a qualified worker.  We have a call in to the best mason in the area and our fingers are crossed that we’ll soon get a response.

Meanwhile, thank you to everyone who has come forward with donations and offers of help.  Once again we are so grateful and proud to live here in this very special and caring place!

One Response to “The Kindness of Friends and Strangers”

  1. Stephanie Frieze says:

    So glad that people are being generous with the cemetery and Oysterville. It had already suffered from vandals and then Mother Nature. Hopefully things will be put to right. Maybe a monument person from farther afield will step up to the plate and offer to help out in a more timely manner than the Astoria outfit.

Leave a Reply