22 February 2009

Dear Friends of Spring Hill Cemetery,

February has been a busy month for us. In addition to our planned workday, one of our lost headstones has been recovered. Debbie Carlin contacted me earlier this month to say that little Nettie L. Stump's headstone had been discovered in the backyard of a rental property owned by her mother, Frances Gorges, in Pacheco. Gardeners hired to spruce up the tiny backyard between renters made the discovery. Debbie googled Nettie Stump, found our incredible website (thank you, Larry Wendt!!), and through that contacted me. The stone was picked up from Pacheco on February 12th, with a newspaper photographer photographing the event. A reporter subsequently conducted phone interviews. Debbie Carlin said the article appeared Wednesday, February 18th in the "Pleasant Hill - Martinez Record insert of the Contra Costa Times. They told me it may run next week in the Concord Transcript and the Walnut Creek Journal." Nettie's stone was returned to the cemetery on Friday, during our workday. For those of you interested in Nettie, I have attached to this email a background document I wrote about Nettie for Debbie Carlin and her mother. You can read the newspaper reporter's article, unfortunately without the pictures, at: Marker returned to original site in Sebastopol cemetery - By Jennifer Shaw.

Although the rains had pelted down on Sonoma County for the week leading up to Friday, and now the rains are pelting down once again, on the 20th the skies cleared for a lovely sunny day (just as ordered!). Spring Hill's position atop a hill combined with the gentle vinca undergrowth meant the ground was soft enough to work in without being muddy. Conditions were perfect for us. 14 intrepid volunteers joined Dustin and Devin of the Volunteer Services section of Regional Parks for a highly productive workday.

Having not seen the cemetery for some months, I was delighted to see what good condition it was in. There was little winter debris, and few beer cans or other evidence of recent partying having taken place in the cemetery. The headstones were as we had left them, with no new breakages or thievery. It seems that so far the winter has been kind to Spring Hill.

Once again we easily filled the large dump truck left us by Glen and Sal of Regional Parks. Dustin and Devin were indispensable in sectioning and hauling off many of the downed tree sections that had been too large for the volunteers to handle. They also removed many of the smaller stumps that were ground hazards, and cut down a few smaller dead trees. We volunteers were able to make great progress in clearing debris from the Robertson/Parmeter, Lowrey, and Finley areas of the cemetery. Daffodil bulbs from the Octagon that were kindly left us by Andy Martin were planted - many around the Zilhart enclosure. And we were able to record coordinates for about half of the cemetery for detailed mapping. We wrapped it up about 12:30, pleased with all we were able to accomplish.

Our next workday is scheduled for Friday, March 20th. I have ordered more sunshine, and have heard from Richard Parmeter that he will be joining us all the way from Kansas City, MO in March. Please mark your calendars, and join us if you can!