Town of Chichester
Cemetery Trustees' meeting
November 7, 2022 The Chichester Cemetery Trustees met at 9:30 a.m. at the Historical Society building. Ruth Hammen, Fred Shaw, and Brenda Boswak were in attendance.
Brenda met with the owner of the land surrounding the Elijah Locke Burial Site, on Route 4, to establish a working relationship with them for maintaining the area surrounding the entrance to the burial site. He was very receptive to the idea. The area is very overgrown and hinders easy access to the site. Brenda will contact him again for discussing specifics of the maintenance. Ruthie has received the completed ‘letter of request’ from Diane Loso for the town of Chichester to assume ownership of Hook Cemetery. We will prepare the paperwork for the warrant article for 2023 town meeting that is needed to complete this transfer. Wreaths Across America Day event planning is rolling along nicely. It is scheduled for December 17, 2022. Information has been posted in the local newspapers and on social media and the Chichester town website and town sign. We have 214 veterans’ gravesites and 148 veterans’ remembrance wreaths have been sponsored so far. Volunteers are needed to place the wreaths as well as removal of the wreaths. We have requested that the town website be kept current with the information we provide to them. Don Cotnoir, NH Monuments, has nearly completed the gravestone restorations for this year. We had him restore the following gravestones: Dr. Amasa Kelley-Brown Cemetery, Batchelder family monuments- Batchelder Cemetery, John Fellows-Pineground Cemetery, Hoyt family monument and Mary Moore-Knowlton-Edgerly Cemetery, Herbert T. Sanborn, and Flora Phillips-Leavitt Cemetery. Several gravestones have been restored/cleaned by lot owners, which is encouraging. We are pleased with the progress we are making with the improved appearance of Chichester’s cemeteries. Hopefully this will not make the gravestones a target for vandalism. Brenda will contact the Chief of Police to request continued observation of the condition of the cemeteries.
We would like to thank Mike Mobbs for volunteering his time and equipment to place a granite block back into its position on the boundary wall at the Knowlton-Edgerly Cemetery. Ruthie has submitted the final cemetery maintenance invoice for 2022 and Brenda has submitted the final cemetery gravestone restoration invoice for 2022. Fred has spoken with Gordon Bilodeau who is willing to assume the responsibility of placing the flowers on the Rebecca Hebert/Bilodeau lot, as stipulated in her trust. The cost of the Bilodeau flowers will be paid by the Trustees of Trust Funds from the trust set up by Rebecca Bilodeau. Fred is verifying and updating the map of Knowlton-Edgerly Cemetery with boundary measurements. No deed for this cemetery has been located. Don Cotnoir, NH Monuments, has offered to do a final walkthrough with us in the cemeteries and inspect the gravestone restorations he has completed and give estimates for restorations for 2023. Brenda will coordinate a time with him for this. Removal of the veterans’ American flags will begin after November 11, 2022. The shepherds’ hooks will be placed at the same time for the wreaths. Meeting adjourned @ 11:50 a.m. Respectfully submitted, Brenda Boswak, Cemetery Trustee, Secretary