Austin Cemetery, Pioneer Memorial Unveiling Ceremony

KelvinBueckert

A short ceremony honoring the pioneers of the past. www.kelvinbueckert.com

Transcript

00:00Welcome to the Austin Cemetery.

00:28I'm Janice Weave, Chairperson of the Austin Cemetery Committee, which consists of Arlene

00:33Jarama, Barb Grift, Lorraine Schipanski, Doug Hodgins, Jack Kronk, and Ken Winters.

00:40Not everyone can say their cemetery is a busy place, but ours has had a lot going on, even

00:45in these quiet times.

00:46We are into our third year of refurbishment project, where we are straightening and washing

00:50headstones, especially the historic ones at the risk of falling or where they are unreadable.

00:57Our $3,000 per year budget can do between 20 to 30 stones, depending on the work involved

01:02with each.

01:03Community generosity and support of our fundraisers goes a long way on this annual ongoing project.

01:09Should your family's plot need work, please contact us and we'll let you know what's involved

01:14in getting it fixed up.

01:15A new columbarium is coming this fall where the new cement pad sits.

01:20Funds were being raised and the generosity of the Tom and Hazel Lowe Estate topped up

01:24that project.

01:25So thankful to the Lowe family for their support of a true community project.

01:30Our veterans are always treated with the greatest respect here in Austin.

01:34Annual copy placement ensures their visibility in our midst.

01:38The Cenotaph also lists the veterans from this community.

01:41The Cenotaph is receiving a facelift this summer made possible by the Manitoba Military

01:46Grant, a North Norfolk Foundation grant, sales from fundraisers, and general donations.

01:52Thank you to everyone who supports this cemetery in these ways.

01:57Now the Pioneer Memorial.

01:59This cemetery is located along the Fort Ellis Trail.

02:02It is said to come by where the grandstand of the museum sits and then passes along the

02:08north side of here and goes west across our farm.

02:12Elders in the community talked of crosses along the trail marking graves of settlers,

02:17pioneers, and travellers who travelled no further.

02:21In most instances, those markers are long gone.

02:24In our cemetery, we also have many unmarked graves where wooden crosses and markers once

02:30were or records have been lost.

02:33Our Pioneer Memorial project is in honour of those whose presence in history was real

02:39but their graves are no longer visible.

02:42The Manitoba 150 grant in 2020 of $6,500 made this memorial we are unveiling tonight a reality.

02:50Our history lies in our cemeteries and we honour it gladly with this beautiful reminder

02:55of those who have gone before.

02:58Thank you to everyone for their interest and for coming out in support of cemetery projects.

03:02The generosity of our community members with donations and volunteer time and with the

03:07support of the Municipality of North Norfolk as well as the Province of Manitoba with grants,

03:12our cemetery is able to restore, refurbish, maintain, and build new for future generations.

03:19We'll have a few words from Karen Goote from the North Norfolk Foundation.

03:25Thank you Janice.

03:26Hi there, I'm Karen Goote from the North Norfolk Foundation and thank you very much for this

03:30opportunity to present at the unveiling of the Cenotaph.

03:33Arlene Jarama on behalf of the Austin Cemetery Committee applied for a Build 150 grant for

03:38her interesting project in recognizing the need for the marking of the graves.

03:44These types of projects are unusual and very important to history, especially of North

03:49Norfolk.

03:50I'd like to take a moment to thank Arlene for working tirelessly on these types of projects

03:55because not everybody just picks up a project like this.

03:58So we appreciate that you're so connected to history but also to the people of North

04:04Norfolk that have lived here and Janice as well, and Janice Weave as well.

04:10It was very interesting when Arlene came to ask for a grant from the Build 150 and she

04:18presented in front of the entire committee.

04:22What was interesting about it was the fact that we had never heard of this witching stick

04:28that she uses to find graves and she described the whole process and she had absolutely everybody

04:35enthralled.

04:36And so it's very unusual for us to have an opportunity to hear such a storytelling project

04:44and that's part of what the legacy of Build 150 is supposed to be about.

04:48It's building for Manitoba's on of course of its birthday 150 years and about the storytelling

04:54and the stories that are around our province.

04:57And so this was just a perfect project to be chosen as one of the four projects that

05:01the North Norfolk Foundation sponsored.

05:04So the North Norfolk Foundation matched four grants for a total of $40,000 to create a

05:08legacy Manitoba Build 150 projects.

05:12The North Norfolk Foundation chose Austin Cemetery, Sprucedale Greenhouse, Valley View

05:17Bible Camp and the North Norfolk Dog Park to receive funding.

05:22These projects were chosen to have long-lasting impacts to the North Norfolk area.

05:27The North Norfolk Foundation continues to grant worthy projects in our area, granting

05:31approximately $68,000 per year.

05:35We really are glad to be a part of this and we hope we continue with more history projects

05:40in our area because that's what keeps it alive.

05:43We have a tremendous relationship with the museum across the street and I've been funding

05:49numerous projects over the years and continue to support those as well.

05:54But I know that as I look around there's others that are interested in history projects and

05:58I hope you reach out to the foundation we'd like to support.

06:02So thank you very much for having me today and this is a wonderful opportunity for all of us.

06:06We've also got Arlene here.

06:07If you see anything pretty in the cemetery, Arlene's responsible because she is the artsy

06:12person on our committee and she makes everywhere she goes more beautiful and she works so hard

06:17and tirelessly for our committee and for this cemetery.

06:20So Arlene.

06:21Okay.

06:22First, I'm going to talk about the on-mark graves.

06:28When Janice came on the committee, she said there are so many babies buried here that

06:38are on-marked.

06:40We should have some kind of dedication to them.

06:45So I applied when this Manitoba 150 came up and I applied and we received it.

06:51This summer, Janice and I walked the cemetery with the wires.

06:55We found and recorded 126 on-mark graves, not including this area which is, you said,

07:08over 100.

07:11So this all probably are burials that had wooden crosses over 120 years ago.

07:22So this is the only project we don't have any funding for.

07:25We have 29 graves we have found that have names.

07:32Not all of them have dates yet.

07:35Five of them will be family-supported.

07:39So this is something that will be our next project is the on-mark graves.

07:45It's $150 to support a small stone.

07:50And as I showed you with this, we just walk it and pretty good chance I'll find one.

08:01Oh, there we go.

08:13We can also tell if it's male or female.

08:15Janice is better at this than me, but there can't be any wind.

08:19If you hold it like this, it depends whether it goes clockwise or counterclockwise, whether

08:24it's male or female.

08:27Another project, I've been doing cemetery saddles.

08:31They're $50 each and $25 goes to the cemetery.

08:35This one is for sale.

08:37This was on spec.

08:39So I've done about eight so far.

08:45Anything else?

08:52Thank you everybody who came and is interested in our projects that we do here and thank

08:57you everybody for your support and we're going to take the tarp off this beautiful

09:01memorial.

09:04Oh, this way.

09:06Are you ready, Declan?

09:10Get in there.

09:17Thank you to Ed and Kelvin for the sound and we have Declan on the drone and Neil's taking

09:25pictures.

09:26Barb's taking pictures.

09:27Thank you so much, Danny.

10:27Those who have passed this way, travelers, homesteaders, pioneers, and infants who lay

10:34in unmarked and unknown graves in the Austin Cemetery, as well as those buried in nearby

10:42fields and along the Fort Alice Trail, erected by the Austin Cemetery Committee with funding

10:49from Manitoba Build 150 and the North Norfolk Foundation, June 2021.

11:10Could we just take a few minutes to bow our heads and think of those in the unmarked,

11:19unknown graves, as well as those marked and known in the Austin Cemetery.

11:50Thank you for your respect.

12:04I guess that'll tarp.

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