Thanks to fifteen donations, the Clark Lake Memory Fund is underway and partway to the goal. The fund will make possible the repair of broken, tipped over, or out of place headstones in the Clark Lake Cemetery. They will then be gently cleaned. The work will be done by Jackson Monument, a company that is experienced and technically advanced in this kind of work. The cost estimate is $7,000. So far, caring individuals and families have pledged or contributed $4,100 toward that goal.
DONORS
1000+
Walter Reed
500+
Joan Ambs
Rick Belcher – Honoring William & Julia Preece
Mike & Teresa McKay
Bill & Ann Searles
250+
John, Dotty & Johnny Karkheck
100+
C. J. Cox – Honoring Monty R. Cox
David & Sandy Gaunt – Honoring Crawford/Blanchard/Gaunt Family
Stacy Harrison
Ron & Beth June – Honoring Richard Moyer
Chuck & Tina Newman – Honoring Woodie & Betty Newman
Carolyn Nichols – Honoring Kay Vermeulen Nichols
Brenda Weidner – Honoring James & Hattie Crozier
Carolyn Zader – Honoring Edna Holzapfel
50+
Adam McKay
Names of donors will be included on a Memory Marker as an illustration of their concern for Clark Lake heritage, and this historic and revered site.
Donations can be made via credit card by clicking here, or by mailing a check payable to the Clark Lake Spirit Foundation, PO Box 224, Clark Lake, MI 49234. The Foundation is a 501c3 and donations may be tax-advantaged, according to IRS rules.
If you’re hearing about this for the first time, you’ll want to know about the problem. Some headstones have stood the test time. Many have not. Markers are tipped over, the stone or granite is encased with moss, dirt or otherwise discolored. That, in itself, is sad. Take the unhappy tour in this slide show.
Heartfelt concern is inspiring donations:
Cemetery Is Part of Clark Lake
Clark Lakers regularly join together to create, improve, preserve or otherwise safeguard important aspects of the community – the Community Center, Pretty Pergola, Spirit Trail, Welcome to Clark Lake Sign, the new irrigation project around it, and DamStrong. Events like the Memorial Day Parade, Run Clark Lake, Raft-O-Rama, Polar Plunge, Clark Lake Cup, Crab Races, the beautifying work of the Garden Angels all testify to the outpouring of support. The cemetery is not going anywhere. Should Clark Lakers care about disgraceful conditions?
One project is especially pertinent. Two decades ago, cars routinely parked over graves near the front entrance when using the boat launch. The Foundation constructed the fencing and pillars that you see along the east perimeter. This project, in collaboration with the then township supervisor, was no small task. It started with the Foundation mapping the cemetery, documentation the Township still uses today.
Clark Lake’s Memory
If you visit the cemetery, you may notice familiar names like Vermeulen, Adkins, Jackson, Anderson, and Reed. Look further and you find reminders of the area’s earliest settlers. George Stranahan, his son George Jr., and daughter Catherine, are buried here. Donors are showing respect to those who have gone before.
Saluting Veterans
Fifty-five veterans and spouses are buried in this cemetery. Their service includes the Civil War, World War I, World War II, Korea, and Vietnam. Every Memorial Day, the Parade stops at the cemetery to salute veterans by symbolically placing a wreath on one of the graves.
Families
The families of those who are in the cemetery, or expect to use it, have a special reason for supporting this effort. Some of them regularly care for family headstones, and may have a strong interest in the cemetery’s preservation.
Strolling through the cemetery evokes a range of emotions – sweet remembrances, lingering grief, respect, sadness. Of those buried here, one common thread may be that each, and/or their families, rest at the lake they loved.
On a rainy day in March, these four gathered at the cemetery to develop a plan.
Mike McKay (who led the Foundation’s cemetery restoration 19 years ago), John Karkheck (who inspired the project), Scott Hunt (contractor), Chris St. John (Jackson Monument). Not pictured, Rick Belcher.
Once completed, John Karkheck indicates Post 315 of the American Legion in Brooklyn will dedicate the work done on behalf of interred veterans. Further, it’s hoped that the Wreaths Across America program, honoring veterans, will include this cemetery.
Jackson Monument outlined the process below:
Step 1: Restore, level and plumb broken marble tablets, using Domo 10 epoxy and infill mortar as recommended by National Cemetery Preservation best practice. Repair or new socket type base may be necessary to ensure they stand upright. (One tablet is beyond repair – the marble is too degraded and it will have to lay on the ground).
Step 2: Straighten and level each family lot of markers. Remove built up soil from around each marker or monument. Search out each existing concrete foundation, level if necessary and re-install the marker to the foundation. Straighten each row of markers for the best curb appeal.
Step 3: Clean each memorial. Each stone will be washed using low pressure power washer. Next, a product called D-2 biological growth cleaner would be applied. This would be followed with a gentle scrub by hand and rinsed with clean water. The concentration of the hand scrub would be the surface where the names and dates are. The rough sides will receive the power wash treatment.
The Clark Lake Cemetery is one of four under the authority of Columbia Charter Township. Recently, the Township appropriated about $60,000, indirectly offset by COVID era revenues, to eliminate brush and to replace the disheveled fencing around the south, west, and north perimeters. Though the Township indicates it routinely budgets for the maintenance of the cemeteries, it is legally prohibited from using tax dollars to repair or maintain individual grave markers or headstones.
Note: Funds received in excess of the stated goal may cover additional expenses for this project or become part of the Foundation’s general fund to be used to benefit Clark lake.
