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By MARK E. JONES [email protected]
Monday, November 15, 2004     Page: 1A

WYOMING – Borough resident Joe Massara wants to inject new life into the
local cemetery.
   
He and a handful of volunteers who comprise the Wyoming Cemetery
Association aim to revitalize this restful place where townsfolk have been
buried for more than 140 years.
    They intend to spruce up the graveyard and convert a few of its dirt roads
into space for more burial lots. They plan to pump cash into a newly created
perpetual care fund that would keep the grass trimmed and grounds tidy for
future generations.
   
And they also hope to build a memorial of some sort, perhaps a brick
promenade visible to passing motorists.
   
“We have ideas and initiatives, and we need the support of the community
to do it,” said Massara, 58, chairman of the association’s fund drive.
   
Earlier this fall the association mailed about 1,200 letters to borough
residents, appealing for donations. More recently, a second letter was
prepared for distribution to nearly 100 borough businesses, professionals and
groups.
   
Ideally, the fund drive will bring in $10,000 or more, Massara said.
   
He emphasized that the cemetery association is not going broke. However, it
must continue to meet expenses – such as upkeep, insurance and utility bills –
while also dealing with a shrinking income stream. That’s because, as each
year passes, there are fewer unclaimed lots within the 10-acre tract.
   
“We still have lots for sale,” he said, “but we don’t have that much
room (for expansion.)”
   
The cemetery fronts traffic-heavy Wyoming Avenue between Fourth and Fifth
streets. Ringed by a wrought-iron fence, it has been a prominent part of the
landscape since pre-Civil War times. Massara referred to it as “one of the
earliest cemeteries in the Valley.”
   
It became incorporated in 1864, a full 140 years ago, according to multiple
sources. But it probably got its start decades earlier.
   
A “History of Wyoming Borough,” published in 1935, pinpoints the
graveyard’s establishment to the year 1838. That’s “when Jacob I. Shoemaker
Sr., the first of his name here, set aside a portion of his lot as a burial
place, at the time of the death of his wife, Mrs. Elizabeth Shoemaker,” the
history states.
   
However, Bob Carroll, the association’s vice president, said he previously
located a headstone dated as early as 1824. A Presbyterian church formerly
occupied part of the site, he said.
   
Regardless of dates, it’s clear that this knoll serves as the final resting
spot for hundreds of men and women who played a role in developing the region.
Among them are veterans of every major U.S. conflict except the Revolutionary
War, Carroll said.
   
SUBHED: Town’s tapestry
   
Billing the cemetery as “part of our heritage,” the association seeks
donations from many area residents, not just individuals who bought lots or
buried loved ones here.
   
Anybody who has lived for a few years in the borough, said Massara, can
probably walk amid the granite slabs and spot familiar names. Former mayors.
Clergy members. School teachers and coaches. Police chiefs, shopkeepers and
all the people who form a community.
   
“To me, (this cemetery) becomes a part of all of us who’ve raised families
or had businesses here,” Massara said.
   
It’s the spot where, each Memorial Day, members of the VFW Post 396 conduct
a ceremony honoring local war dead.
   
Old-timers also might remember it as the place where a 350-pound bronze
Labrador retriever stood guard over a grave for nearly three-quarters of a
century. The statue was stolen in 1975 and recovered several years later,
according to Times Leader files.
   
SUBHED: Keeping current
   
Other cemetery associations, including some in Luzerne County, have
disbanded due to a lack of funds or interest, Massara said.
   

   
In those instances, maintenance becomes spotty at best. “Hopefully they
get the Boy Scouts to come in twice during the summer to cut the grass,” he
said.
   
He believes the Wyoming association – which installed new, younger board
members within the past three years – is positioning itself to be better
prepared for the future.
   
The group is headed by Dr. Eugene Turchetti, a 1964 graduate of Wyoming
High School who now lives in the Clarks Summit area. Other members include
Massara, an automobile auctioneer; Carroll, an insurance agent; Betty Miller,
a mainstay in many borough organizations, including the Wyoming Free Library;
and Dr. Edward Lottick, who founded the cemetery’s long-term care fund.
   
Further contributions will allow the graveyard’s guardians to do even more
work. Fix headstones that have been toppled by shifting soil. Remove dying
trees.
   
Maybe they’ll even be able to build that streetside memorial, complete with
antique-style lights and benches for the comfort of cemetery visitors and
passers-by.
   
“We don’t want this to be a `used-to-be’ place,” Massara said. “It’s a
`now’ place.”
   
TIMES LEADER STAFF PHOTOS/DON CAREY
   
To enhance the Wyoming Cemetery, board members Betty Miller, Bob Carroll,
Dr. Edward Lottick and Joe Massara decided to start a community-wide fund
drive. Donations will pay for grounds upkeep and improvements.
   
This artillery piece serves as a silent sentry at the historic Wyoming
Cemetery. The cannon’s tube, forged in New York’s Watervliet Arsenal, is
stamped `1918.’
   
GET INVOLVED
   
Help to beautify the Wyoming Cemetery.
   
This autumn the cemetery association is conducting a fund drive, as well as
seeking input on a possible streetside memorial. Contributions, in the form of
checks, can be mailed to this address: Cemetery Association of Wyoming, 155 R
Wyoming Ave., Wyoming, PA 18644.
   
For details, call caretaker George Krizenoskas at 822-3125. Or call
fund-raising chairman Joe Massara at 288-2195.
   
For information about burial lots, call 693-4411.
   
EDITOR’S NOTE: We know Mondays can be gloomy.
   
So how about a good story to start the week?
   
If you have suggestions for “New Week” stories, call Allison Walzer at
829-7162 or e-mail her at [email protected].