Because of generous donations to the Foundation’s Clark Lake Memory Fund, work in the cemetery is proceeding to restore broken, tipped over, or out of place headstones. Once this phase is completed, the experienced Jackson Monument crew will gently clean the markers in a technically advanced manner.
The work began yesterday (Mon 9/16) and is expected to take four days to complete. As you can see in this photo, properly aligning markers requires great care.
Compare yesterday’s reset to the photo of the same markers taken in March.
To get an idea of the scope of the work, take the unhappy tour of what you would have seen before the work began.
The crew is under the direction Jackson Monument’s Chris St. John. With Chris are Chris Cox, Matt Double, Aaron Maurer and Jason Stephens.
A generous outpouring pushed the Clark Lake Memory Fund over the top. The estimated cost is $7,000. The Clark Lake Spirit Foundation thanks these donors.
DONORS
3000+
Chas & Pat Timberlake – Honoring Frances M. (Timberlake) Lillis (1950-2008) who spent many wonderful summers at Windward on Eagle Point
1000+
Walter Reed
500+
Joan Ambs
Rick Belcher – Honoring William & Julia Preece
John & Jackie Calhoun – Honoring John (Jack) & Maxine King
Mike & Teresa McKay
Raft-O-Rama
Bill & Ann Searles
250+
John, Dotty & Johnny Karkheck
150+
Nancy & Mike Ligibel
100+
Angela Anderson – Honoring Anderson-Willnow-Pierson Families
C. J. Cox – Honoring Monty R. Cox
Ronald & Sue Crawford
David & Sandy Gaunt – Honoring Crawford/Blanchard/Gaunt Family
Stacy Harrison
Delores Jackson – Honoring John I., Mary Fred, Hila, Tom, Mable, Jack Jackson
Ron & Beth June – Honoring Richard Moyer
Lauri & Steve Lambert
Chuck & Tina Newman – Honoring Woodie & Betty Newman
Carolyn Nichols – Honoring Kay Vermeulen Nichols
Barbara Owings – Honoring Ron Owings
Terry & Cris Reed – Honoring Robert & Lila Jean Reed
Archie Sconochia
Andrea Steible
John & Elaine Stewart
Brenda Weidner – Honoring James & Hattie Crozier
Carolyn Zader – Honoring Edna Holzapfel
50+
Tom & Marcia Babcock – Honoring Charles & Martha Crawford
Linda Z. Gregory – Honoring David H. Gregory, Trelys O. Gregory, Wright Gregory
Adam McKay
Viewing the names of honorees on this page will bring back recollections of those who have gone before us. The Clark Lake Memory plaque to be placed in the cemetery will bear the names of the donors.
Early planning commenced with a visit to the cemetery on a cold, rainy day in March.
Mike McKay (who led the Foundation’s cemetery restoration 19 years ago – see below), John Karkheck (who inspired the project), Scott Hunt (contractor who is not involved in the current work), Chris St. John (Jackson Monument). Not pictured, Rick Belcher.
Heartfelt Concern Inspires Donors
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, and work of the Garden Angels all testify to the outpouring of support. The cemetery is not going anywhere. Clark Lakers have joined together to address the conditions.
A past project was especially pertinent. Until two decades ago, cars routinely parked over graves near the front entrance when using the boat launch. The Clark Lake Spirit Foundation (former name was Clark Lake Foundation) constructed the fencing and pillars that you see along the east gate. This project, in collaboration with the then township supervisor, was no small task. It started with the Foundation mapping the cemetery. That 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. In this photo, the kids in the parade and other participants are assembling at the cemetery.
Families
The families of those who are in the cemetery, or expect to use it, have a special reason for supporting Clark Lake’s Memory. 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.
What’s Next
Once improvements are 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.
Beyond the project to restore and clean the markers, another level of care, reverence and relevance is under development. As the details are secured, look for the story about it, and how you may wish to participate.
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.
Note: Funds received in excess of the stated goal may cover additional expenses for this project, be part of the next cemetery improvement, or become part of the Foundation’s general fund to be used to benefit Clark lake.
Scope of Current Project and Method of Jackson Monument Care
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.
