Cemeteries deserve care

To the editor:

As you drive through rural Jay County, it is almost impossible to not pass a cemetery, big or small.

Cemeteries tell us lots about our past. I firmly believe that it is important to preserve our past to educate our future.

By taking the time to explore a cemetery, you can find information about your ancestors, and others who came before you.

Take the time to clean up your family members’ grave sites, so your family members can learn in the future. It isn’t hard to go to a small family cemetery, and clean it up a bit. You might even find some cool facts.

You can also go to Jay County Historical Museum and learn there. It has lots of resources to help you learn about your family as well. It has funeral records from Baird-Freeman, Williamson-Spencer and Pendrod and other area funeral homes. It has censuses, birth, marriage and death certificates, and much, much more. It is so fascinating to learn about our past.

As someone who visits the Salamonia Cemetery in Salamonia every day to visit my relatives, it is sad to see how many cemeteries are trashed, vandalized or run down. Do your part to preserve our past to educate our future.

Bernard Freeman

Portland