Doug Buster, President of the Cemetery Preservation Group (CPG), spoke to the Selma Rotary Club Monday afternoon to discuss the work the group has been doing around the City of Selma’s three cemeteries and inform the Rotarians of the upcoming projects and goals of the organization.
According to Buster, Selma’s three city-owned cemeteries (Old Live Oak Cemetery, New Live Oak Cemetery and Lorenzo Harrison Memorial Gardens) serve as the resting place of around 25,000 deceased and covers around 50 acres of land.
“There’s a lot of work to be done,” said Buster of the city’s cemeteries.
Buster began the CPG after noticing problems at the cemeteries while tending to his own family’s grave sites.
“The more I visited, the more problems I saw,” said Buster. “In fact, at Old Live Oak I counted 84 broken tombstones.”
After he discovered the disarray, Buster began the nonprofit organization.
Buster said the group’s original mission was to clean and restore grave markers but, once the city workers were laid off last November, there was no one to perform the routine maintenance required to keep the cemeteries mowed.
“We found ourselves in the middle of this grass-cutting bonanza,” said Buster. “Thank goodness for the volunteers who have helped out throughout the summer. It is a major undertaking for sure.”
As grass cutting season has begun to wind down, Buster and the rest of the group’s volunteers hope that the city will hire more workers to tend to the cemetery grounds before the spring.
Buster then shifted focus to the importance of taking care of Selma’s cemeteries.
“Out of pride and just common decency, I think we as a community need to make sure that these cemeteries are kept clean and maintained. You would be surprised at the number of people that visit those cemeteries every day,” he said.
According to Buster, the Chamber of Commerce estimates that around 60,000 people visit Old Live Oak Cemetery Each year.
“I don’t doubt it, that’s probably being very conservative,” said Buster.
Buster said he’s interacted with people from all over the country as they’ve made stops at Selma’s cemeteries, citing people from California, Iowa, Wisconsin and New Mexico as recent visitors.
Buster said that people from all over the country visit Old Live Oak to see the graves and trees.
“The redwoods in California are the same as the live oaks in Selma,” said Buster. “[These trees] are a treasure that we take for granted. People haven’t seen these 140-year-old live oak trees. We’ve got to take care of them.”
Buster then announced that the group is working on a “People of Interest” database for its website of interesting people buried at Selma’s cemeteries.
In the future, the group would like to install directory signs and plaques with QR codes so visitors could scan them with their smart phones and learn about interesting characters buried in Selma.
“It’s interesting, the people you meet and the stories you hear about these families and how they got here,” said Buster. “It’s amazing.”
Buster closed by saying how important Selma’s cemeteries can be in Selma’s tourism industry.
“Tourism is an industry we can all participate in,” Buster said. “We can all give people something to look at and enjoy.”