New Dimensions Seeks Volunteers for Maintenance at Pine Ridge Cemetery
Delta College Professor Advising History Supporters on Monument Repair
April 4, 2010
By: Dave Rogers
Marv Kusmierz attaches new historic interpretive signs donated by the Rotary Club of Bay City as Ted Anderson watches.
Examining crumbling monument enclosures at Pine Ridge Cemetery are, from left, Marv Kusmierz, Prof. Dave Bledsoe, Dolores Rogers, Lynn Snyder, Fred Welsh, Ted Anderson.
New Dimensions, Inc., has issued a call for community volunteers, school or other groups, to help with maintenance of Historic Pine Ridge Cemetery.
"We are hoping that more people from the community will come out on a regular basis to join with our workers and help maintain and improve this historic site," said Lynn Snyder, supervisor at New Dimensions.
The agency that works with disabled persons and employs job coaches to assist them in improving work skills has hung new signs on the fence of the cemetery, located at the southeast corner of Tuscola and Ridge.
The support group and history researchers working in cooperation with New Dimensions recently met with David Bledsoe, Delta College associate professor of construction and architecture, to plan for repair of stone enclosures and replacement of monuments at the cemetery.
Grants will be sought from the National Park Service and other sources for funds to pay for materials and labor for the repairs.
Delta College will be working with the local group to plan for the monument improvements and to complete demonstration projects.
"We are hoping that volunteers who want to learn the latest techniques in concrete technology will join us in this project, said Prof. Bledsoe.
Meanwhile, Jim Petrimoulx, history researcher, has discovered that 27 Civil War veterans are buried at Pine Ridge with no markers and the location of the graves unknown.
The support group is considering placing a sign with all the names of the veterans at Soldier's Rest, the Grand Army of the Republic monument area in the eastern sector of the cemetery.
The roll of the veterans will be read as part of Memorial Day Ceremonies at the cemetery. Besides the annual Bay County Veterans
Council activities, involving placing of flags and salutes by firing squads, the committee is planning other entertainment and a tour of the historic grounds.
Civil War veterans buried in Pine Ridge with locations unknown are:
Aiken, George, Sgt., 1st Michigan Artillery; Borland, Matthew, pvt., 10th Ohio Cavalry; Brown, John E., pvt., 4th Michigan Cavalry; Campau, Alexander, pvt., 1st Michigan Cavalry; Canfield, Alonzo, pvt., 2nd Michigan Infantry; Catlin, James, pvt., 3rd Michigan Cavalry; Catlin, William, pvt., 5th New York Infantry;
Ellison, Luther, pvt., 10th Michigan Infantry; Esseltine, George, pvt., 22nd Michigan Infantry; Hennard, John, pvt., 1st Michigan Engineers & Mechanics; Hicks, Henry, pvt., 128th New York Infantry; Kempter, Gottlieb, pvt., 29th Michigan Infantry; LeRoy, Francis, pvt., 16th U.S. Infantry; Leroy, John, pvt., 16th U.S. Infantry;
Maxon, Carl W., pvt., 26th New York Light Artillery; Moorehouse, Alfred, pvt., 56th Illinois Infantry; Perkins, William H., pvt., 23rd Michigan Infantry; Pierce, Freeman, pvt., 91st New York Infantry; Rodgers, James, pvt., 147th New York Infantry; Rogers, David, pvt., 140th New York Infantry; Roy, Francis, pvt., 1st Vermont Heavy Artillery;
Rundell, Truman, pvt., 23rd Michigan Infantry; Thayer, Nicholas, pvt. 20th Indiana Infantry; Thompson, Denis, pvt., 29th Michigan Infantry; Traub, George, pvt., 193rd New York Infantry; Van Kleeck, James, pvt., 17th Michigan Infantry; Woodard, Ebenezer, pvt., 7th Michigan Cavalry.