May 28, 2006 By Jackie Beranek 5 min read

DUNBAR – As people across the nation prepare to celebrate Memorial Day, honoring the dead of all wars, two local men have worked diligently this year to make sure that local veterans’ tombstones, in an overgrown Dunbar Township cemetery, are cleaned up, identified, mapped and remembered. Lanny Golden of North Union Township and Dennis O. Morrison of Dunbar began the daunting task of identifying and cleaning up the graves in the old Auburn Cemetery in February and will continue their work up until Memorial Day.

So far, they have found 242 veterans’ graves in the new Mount Auburn Cemetery, 111 in the old Mount Auburn Cemetery, 52 in Saint Aloysius Cemetery and 164 in Franklin Cemetery.

However, even though Saint Aloysius, Franklin and the new Mount Auburn are perpetual care graveyards, Golden and Morrison said the only people who have maintained the graves in the old Mount Auburn Cemetery are family members.

“It’s a shame,” said Golden. “A lot of the veterans buried in the old Mount Auburn Cemetery have no one left to take care of their graves.”

Memorial Day, which originated in the South after the Civil War when the graves of both Confederate and Union soldiers were decorated, is a time for reflection and a time to pay tribute to all of the young men and woman who gave their lives for our country, said Golden.

It is also a time to remember veterans of all wars, such as those who fought in the Revolutionary War, Civil War, Spanish American War, World War I, World War II, the Korean and Vietnam wars, the Gulf War and, now, Iraq and Afghanistan.

Golden and Morrison said that they have found many of the graves in old Mount Auburn are unmarked and a lot of the headstones are illegible.

“The veterans identification in the cemeteries is ongoing,” said Golden, “and we have found that many of the records are incorrect. So this is an ongoing process.”

Golden said many tombstones in Saint Aloysius Cemetery have been removed by the church and placed in the wood line at the bottom of the cemetery. He additionally said that he is hopeful that individuals whose stones are there can be identified, but he said many of them are worn and may need rubbings to identify them.

Morrison, who has been placing American flags on veterans’ graves since 1955, said Boy Scout Troop 180 of Dunbar has actually been responsible for the job since 1932.

“Lanny and I both have relatives in this cemetery,” said Morrison. “I own two lots up there in the old (cemetery) and Lanny has a lot of relatives here.”

Morrison said one of the earliest Dunbar families, with the last name of Greenwood, are buried in the cemetery. He additionally said that there are Civil War soldiers, a sheriff and several former mayors.

Golden said that some of the people buried in the old cemetery have been there since the 1700s.

Golden said he was appalled when he first saw the condition of the old Auburn Cemetery because there were abandon vehicles on the hill and the general condition of the property was a “rats nest.”

He also said that he was ashamed to say that his “people” were buried there and decided to do something about it.

“Dennis and I have spent hundreds of hours cleaning up this cemetery,” said Golden. “It’s been a lot of hard work, but now we are getting to the payoff because it’s looking pretty good.”

Golden said he and Morrison cut the waist high grass and weeded and hacked their way through the thick brush until they were finally able to use a weed whacker around the graves.

He additionally said that he has two grandfathers buried in the cemetery in addition to several other relatives.

“My grandfather Fred Golden is buried in the cemetery and so is my grandfather Sam Blacka,” he said. “Jacob Hardin is here, and across the street, William D. Blacka, a Civil War veteran, is buried.”

Golden said he believes that the old Mount Auburn Cemetery is now owned by the state because the people who originally owned it are dead.

Golden has taken pictures of all the graves and has documented where the graves are. He said that information would eventually be placed on the Fayette County genealogy page along with the updated information on the cemetery.

Morrison said the new and old Mount Auburn Cemetery is the largest cemetery out of the three cemeteries. He also said that there is a segregated part of the cemetery where African Americans are buried.

“Some of the African Americans have been moved to the new part of the cemetery by their relatives,” said Golden. “However, there are still several old graves in the segregated part up on the hill and we intend to clean that up, too.”

Golden said he and Morrison would probably attempt that work in the fall when the snakes aren’t so bad. In the meantime, he said he hopes that someone will continue to keep up with the work that he and Morrison have already completed.

“It would be a shame to see this place go back to where it was,” he said. “I know that some family members do take care of some of the graves, but we need someone to keep up with all of them.”

Golden said Charles Crouse of Burhans-Crouse Funeral Home in Dunbar has ordered five or six tombstones for graves in the old part of the cemetery. They also said that the owner of the new cemetery wanted Golden and Morrison to pay to have the pillars that the tombstones sit on placed in the new cemetery.

Both men said they couldn’t afford to do that.