Published Sunday, Jan. 10, 1999 They left in a cautiously cooperative spirit with a hope that their yearlong battle to get the mausoleum fixed may be near an end.
A year ago, the group brought the mausoleum's leaky roof and falling marble walls to the attention of the Shenango Valley Cemetery Association. However, the association would not fund the repairs because most of its funds were endowed to maintain grave sites.
The defunct builder of the mausoleum turned it over to the cemetery association in 1927 with only a $1,500 repair fund. The income from that fund was not enough to make any more than "nickel-and-dime" repairs, said Evelyn Baer, one of the cemetery association's board of managers.
The mausoleum group in August filed a lawsuit against the Shenango Valley Cemetery Association.
"It's been a year and there's not been one iota of nothing done about that building," said Bill Bollinger, a Mayfield Heights, Ohio, man whose grandparents are entombed in the mausoleum.
Bollinger said the mausoleum group asked to meet with the cemetery's board of managers, but only two of the five managers attended.
"If you five had family in there now, we probably would have had it fixed," Bollinger said.
The group nominated one of its own, Mark Wasser of Greenville, to the cemetery board of managers. However, his nomination lost in a 6-6 tie. According to the association bylaws, the incumbent, Dr. C.P. Poolos, was retained as manager.
Bollinger and other members of the group accused the board and its president, Archie O. Wallace, of not caring.
Wallace, a Greenville lawyer, said that was not true. "I would like to see it repaired," he said. However, the cemetery association's funds are endowed for maintenance of the graves and grounds and not for the mausoleum, he said.
Wallace put a deal on the table Saturday.
At Wallace's suggestion, the cemetery association's liability insurance carrier will contribute to the mausoleum repair fund, instead of spending money to fight the group's lawsuit in court.
Wallace suggested the mausoleum group contribute the $7,000 it has raised toward the repairs.
Wallace said he will ask First National Bank of Pennsylvania to release some of the Gibson Trust Fund to be used for the mausoleum. The trust fund was left by the estate of a Greenville clothier and is more commonly known for its annual gift to the top graduate of Greenville High School.
Wallace would not say how much is available from the insurance company or the trust fund. However, all the funds combined would be enough to fix the mausoleum this year, he said.
Wallace told the mausoleum group's lawyer, Michael A. Joanow of Hermitage, about his proposal and is awaiting a response.
Wallace admitted funds from the sale of mausoleum crypts since 1927 had been mixed with the cemetery's general fund. At the suggestion of Edward Pinch, a member of the group, Wallace said the association could add up the mausoleum revenue and put it in a perpetual care fund for the mausoleum.
Wallace suggested the group contact its lawyer.
"If this works out, we can have it repaired," said another group member, Jean Basiorka.
