23 August 2026

Dear Friends of Spring Hill Cemetery,

Yesterday was another beautiful day at Spring Hill. Our previous workday was three months ago in May, so the cemetery floor was covered in dry leaves and downed branches. Six volunteers and 3 workers from Regional Parks Youth Crew met to tackle the debris.

We were greeted by the sweetest horned own, sitting on a branch, watching over us. There is always something special at Spring Hill - a beautiful wild flower, butterflies, fascinating mushrooms -- or, as in this case, a lovely bird. A neighbor told us that there are 3 owls frequenting the cemetery at the moment - a mother and two fledglings. It made for a very auspicious beginning for our clean up.

As usual, Regional Parks kindly provided us the usual tool trailer, dump truck and snacks -- and the amazing Youth Crew. The Youth Crew focused on using chain saws to deal with as much of the large downed tree mess as they could (forth and fifth attached pictures). This tree has been a problem for Spring Hill for awhile now, and has been reported to Regional Parks - hopefully Regional Parks can get maintenance to deal with it soon. In the meantime, the Youth Crew have been mitigating the damage as best they can.

The rest of us focused on clearing paths and gravesites, hauling away downed limbs and raking paths. All debris was gathered and carted to the provided dump truck. Between the Youth Crew and the volunteers we filled the dump truck to capacity, and we left the cemetery returned to its usual peaceful state.

There are a couple of additions to our "Friends" group receiving our updates this time. For their benefit, as well as to remind the group, I am repeating the Spring Hill Cemetery website URL. We have a volunteer, Larry Wendt, who put together our website, and has maintained it - for close to 20 years now. You can reach it at : http://www.wendtroot.com/cockrill/d0011/d0011notes/SpringHillCemetery.html

On the website, you will find the history of the cemetery, listings of burials, and stories/pictures of its inhabitants -- and all of our past recaps. THANK YOU, LARRY!

I am hoping to have our next cemetery day on November 13th. Once I have confirmed a date with Regional Parks, I will send word. For now, please pencil in Friday November 13th -- and come and join us, if you can.

Best Regards,

Sue

Attachment #1
Great Horned Owl

Attachment #2
Vinesa

Attachment #3
Raking Robertson

Attachment #4
Jeremy log

Attachment #5
Youth Crew Work

Attachment #6
Downed Tree

Attachment #7
Group