Published: June 13, 2009 09:29 pm      

Restoration planned for Beckley cemetery

World-famous Beckleyan Bill Withers has donated $5,000 to help rejuvenate Greenwood Memorial Park, and park clean-up officials are asking community members for help, too.

Doris McCormick, president of Cemetery Awareness Restorative Edification, is asking Beckleyans for $100 donations to restore the historical cemetery.

“And then even those who have the financial means can do $1,000 or more,” McCormick said. “Bill Withers gave a very generous donation, and people have been forthcoming not only financially, but organizations have stepped up to help us.”

The aim is to beautify and make the cemetery safe. It’s been in disrepair for many years.

The hope is to gain $250,000 in donations, McCormick said.

“We’ve raised about $11,000, and that’s with Mr. Withers’ donation. So it’s going to take a lot of time and a lot of work and a lot of money for us to get it in a shape we would be proud of.”

The $250,000 will be used to landscape the graveyard and build a new road in it.

“We just feel like for anyone that has someone buried there, their final resting place should be a beautiful place,” McCormick said. “They deserve that.”

The cemetery needs lighting, restoration of sunken graves and volunteers to help mow the grass, too, she added.

“We have a gentleman who cuts grass, but he needs volunteers,” she said. “By the time he gets one section cut and gets to another one, it’s time to go back to the first section.”

Greenwood is a final resting place for Civil War and Spanish-American War veterans.

Situated on 11.65 acres, around 3,000 Beckleyans are buried at Greenwood. Many of the graves are unmarked.

McCormick said burial plots are still being purchased at Greenwood, an African-American cemetery.

So far, McCormick said, community members and organizations have pulled together and improved the cemetery by helping with three clean-up efforts.

“We just ask the community to come out and bring lawn mowers and Weedeaters and rakes, and they help us to keep the grass cut and just to help on general maintenance,” she said.

On Oct. 11, CARE hosted a community day to clean up the park. More than 100 volunteers came out to clear trash and brush and take care of the graveyard, McCormick said.

Alex Overmiller and the Concord University Bonner Scholars, Sherrie Hunter of the Raleigh County Solid Waste Authority, the Raleigh County Make it Shine Committee, Beckley Mayor Emmett Pugh, the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection, the Piney Creek Watershed Association, Alliance Consulting Inc., Dr. Jim Hern and Anqet Natural Spring Water, Bob’s Sanitation, Rick Riser and Southern Communications, Gary Webb and inmates from the Beckley Correctional Center were among those who participated in the clean-up.

The next CARE Community Day is scheduled for 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. June 27.

A fundraising concert in May raised $3,000 for the organization, according to McCormick.

CARE is a nonprofit organization, McCormick said.

Committee members are McCormick, Bishop Fred Simms, Leonard Powell, Quincy Madison and Kenny Mae Warner.

Anyone interested in assisting with CARE’s efforts or making donations to the group should call 304-252-5989 or 304-253-1192 after 7:30 p.m.

Donations may be mailed to CARE, P.O. Box 3111, East Beckley Station, Beckley, WV 25801.

— E-mail: jfarrish

@register-herald.com