Published Monday, October 28, 2002
By Larissa Theodore
Herald Staff Writer
Shenango Valley Cemetery plot holders and owners of crypts in its mausoleum decided Sunday to dip into the principle of their endowment fund even though that won't give them enough money to make all of the repairs that have been urgently needed for years.
They voted to change the bylaws and spend some of the principle from the endowment fund to make some repairs to the outside of the deteriorating granite mausoleum.
Board managers of the Shenango Valley Cemetery Association are President Mark Wasser, Janet McCutcheon, Ed Pinch and Mark Wallace, attorney.
A fifth member, Dr. Constantine Polas was not at the meeting.
A group called "Save the Mausoleum," which formed four years ago has been insisting that repairs be made. Mary Freshwater of Greenville, a plot holder and member of Save the Mausoleum, said there are several problems that need to be fixed.
Weeds are growing through the roof and there are cracks in the corners of the outside walls. When it rains, water pours in through a cracked skylight in the ceiling, drenching the crypts and flooding the building.
Inside, name plates and slabs have fallen from crypts, the walls are mostly cracked and the surface is flaking away. The place is also in need of cleaning, Mrs. Freshwater added.
The mausoleum was built about 1915. It was repaired in 1950 and later in 1959, 1981 and 1985, she said.
Mrs. Freshwater said both her grandparents and great-grandparents are buried in the mausoleum. Her husband is buried in a grave in the cemetery. She said when her relatives purchased their crypts, the contracts promised they would receive "perpetual care."
Perpetual care includes such things as mowing grass, taking care of tombstones and the mausoleum.
Income from the endowment fund is used to pay for maintenance and salaries and until Sunday, the board was not allowed to spend any of the principle, Wasser said.
However, the $15,600 of income the endowment fund will generate this year won't cover the salaries of the superintendent, secretary or other employees, he added.
Wasser said the board used to send 80 percent of revenue from lot sales to the endowment fund, even though the law only requires 20 percent. Now they send 30 percent of sales revenue to the fund and budget the balance for annual operations and maintenance, he said.
Directing 80 percent of new revenue to the endowment built up the fund but it also left the mausoleum in disrepair and neglected for a number of years. Wasser said.
The endowment fund currently contains $589,160.26 and the proposed work for the mausoleum amounts to nearly $65,000, Wasser said.
"Save the Mausoleum" has also raised about $7,000 which they also plan to put toward repairs.
In a vote of 32 to 6, owners decided to make a "one time only" withdrawal of 10 percent of the principle, about $59,000, to repair the outside of the mausoleum.
Planned work includes fixing the cracked walls, the roof and gutters. The damage inside will have to wait awhile for repairs.
"I don't think it's possible to fix the inside. I just don't think we have the money," Wasser said.
Mrs. Freshwater said she was hoping managers would opt to fix the inside of the mausoleum as well, but she was glad to see some progress on the problems.
Wasser cited the downward economy as a main reason for their not making interior repairs.
"We will continue to look over the years and see what we can do. If we start generating more money from our account it could happen, but it doesn't look like it will happen soon with our economy," he said.
During the meeting Bill Bollinger of Ashtabula, Ohio told holders that he and two others asked several contractors for estimates. He said each contractor, no matter the estimate, all came to the same conclusion.
"(The contractors) said this is just painful neglect and if you don't do something pretty soon you'll be past the point of no return," he said.
Bollinger said he hopes all of the repairs can be made and not just the outdoor repairs.
"This is Greenville, not Georgia," he said referring to the crematory in Georgia where government officials turned up hundreds of bodies last year that were never cremated.
"It's a different situation here, but there are still a few common denominators. There's no respect or dignity for family members and the deceased," Bollinger said.
There are 12,000 people buried in the Shenango Valley Cemetery, College Avenue, Greenville, and 300 in the mausoleum.