June was the month for daylilies at Riverview! Ten volunteers planted 100 plants on June 6 and six volunteers planted 600 plants on June 27. Special thanks to Mr. Tucker & Mr. Coleman who brought six residents from Ferris School to prepare the flower beds on two days before the planting. The initial plants were donated by Francie Chalfant and her gardening friends. Then to our surprise, Francie found more plants! Our special thanks to Clemens Construction Company for allowing Francie to rescue/recycle the plants from a demolition site in Chadds Ford. These daylilies now have new life at a historical cemetery. When you are in the area please bring a jug of water and give the flowers a drink. If you live on Washington Street, we appreciate your help keeping the plants alive.

     The dirt pile in Section 8 ˝ needs to be moved! We will do it carefully because it is on top of one of the baby sections at Riverview Cemetery. Please bring buckets, shovels, tarps, and wheelbarrow. Some of the dirt will be used to fill holes throughout the cemetery. The rest will be placed in the storage building. We hope to located grave markers under the dirt pile and restore section 8 ˝ to its original beauty. Twelve volunteers started this project on a rainy Saturday in May. On July 11 we will have the help of Ferris School residents, and Plummer Center crews. Please join us!

Lawn Equipment Fundraiser:

     Volunteers needed to help with a special project. Contact Kate at kwilhere@aol.com for more details.

Ground Hog Transport Team:

     Help us capture and relocate the family of groundhogs who have made large holes on the east and west side. Thanks for all your suggestions. We need people and cages for capture & release.

Grant Writing:

     Each month we learn of grant money that may be available to help us restore and preserve Riverview Cemetery. If you would like a time-limited project and have some experience with grant writing or are willing to learn, please contact drleeanderson@aol.com

Board Members:

     Are you a retired lawyer? Do you have good public relation skills? Do you enjoy fundraising? If so, please contact, Lee at drleeanderson@aol.com (610) 388-1920. The FHRC Board meets once a month on the third Monday from 10 to 12.

Chapel Building:

     We need volunteers who can donate time and talent. If you would like to donate building materials and/or labor, please contact Anne at 302 369 1456 younger.anne@comcast.net. EDIS is providing storage for donated materials. Tax receipts are available.

National Historic Register:

     Be a part of history and learn history at the same time. If you want to help with the application process contact Cheryl at cheshannon@aol.com

Public Mausoleum:

     The mausoleum will be getting a new roof this summer. To donate to this special project contact Kate at kwilhere@aol.com.

Holiday Flower Committee:

     FHRC plans to sell flowers in 2010 and place them on graves for special occasions & holidays. This service has been requested by families out of state & those who can no longer visit the graves. If you would like to help organize the 2009 Christmas wreath program, contact Kate at kwilhere@aol.com (302) 762-4116.

Monument Repair:

     Cecil Monument Company has offered to put some of the fallen monuments back in place. If you would like to help please contact Lee at drleeanderson@aol.com (610) 388-1920

FHRC Board of Directors are available to speak to your homeowners association, civic association, church, or other organization. Please contact any board member (Lee, Cheryl, Mary, Kate, or Tedd) to arrange a date and time.

Special Thanks This Month To:

• FHRC officers met with Debra Goodman and Richard Gentsch from the Delaware Community Foundation and discussed opportunities for the endowment fund. More information will follow next month.

• Plummer Center crews cut grass on the East & West sides. They are doing an outstanding job (500 man hours per cut - a crew of 30 men for two days). They also placed stone to fill in the potholes throughout the cemetery roads. Ten more cuts are planned in 2009.

• Consultants working with the City, Roger Kuhns & Michael Naughter (Black & Veatch) toured the cemetery with FHRC board members and David Beattie (Dept. of Public Works). Storm water drainage and management ideas were discussed and a proposed design will be forthcoming.

• Kerns Brothers Tree Service continues to water 40 new bare root trees and provide tree care. Thanks for your consultation on the fence issue.

• Members of the Transcription Team (Richard Sutor, Floyd Weber, and Walt Mateja) met with FHRC board members, reviewed the past year of work and set goals to complete the database of burials. (If you have information about burials that took place from 2003 to 2008 please contact FHRC)

• Lee Anderson submitted a Tree Management grant application to the Delaware Forest Service Urban & Community Forestry Project with the support letters and documentation from Mayor James Baker, Patrice Sheehan (Delaware Center for Horticulture) and John Kerns.

• Kate Wilhere submitted a grant to Delaware Preservation Fund to purchase new landscaping equipment needed to maintain the grounds.

• Cheryl & Bob Markiewicz created a partnership with Ferris School and worked together to prepare the flower beds on Washington St. And, Terri Sanginiti announced our daylily planting to keep the public informed.

• Dottie Marx submitted an idea and resource for creating and selling FHRC tee shirts. Stay tuned for more information.

• Kingdom Hall has provided a fence at the back of their property that will also help secure the back section of the cemetery.

• Board members assisted families, vault companies, and funeral homes with five interments at Riverview in June. To all volunteers who contribute, time, energy, skills, and financial gifts to the restoration of Riverview Cemetery and the surrounding community…THANK YOU!

  
  

  
  
  The Riverview Cemetery website was created and is maintained by:
  Russ Pickett
  Page updated: Friday, July 10, 2009