HUMBOLDT — Cindy Holinsworth, sexton at Humboldt’s Mount Hope Cemetery since 2022, has a vision for the cemetery.
Some of her thoughts have already morphed into reality, including sprucing up its entrance on Hawaii Road.
Concrete posts line the entryway and hold fences that’ve had better lives on either side. The posts lean every which way. Holinsworth has obtained 300 new concrete posts to replace the old, as soon as she secures a powered post-hole digger.
The narrow road lends a quaint appearance, with small trees, brush and other vegetation roughly defining its boundaries, including some pesky evergreens good at trapping refuse in the fence lines.
Jim Woods, Holinsworth’s volunteer extraordinaire, stays busy gathering the rubbish and performing other chores to ensure that when a burial is scheduled there’s nothing unsightly to distract from the solemn occasion.
Holinsworth noted an ongoing project is clearing the southeast part of the cemetery to accommodate gravesites. Though it would be nice if a road could be built to connect it to the main cemetery, such a project would be daunting, Holinsworth said, because of a large slough and low-lying land.
Then there are the roads that wind through the cemetery. At two miles total, there are enough to allow easy access to most gravesites. That’s important. By its very nature, death often falls to the elderly, who have elderly relatives and friends. Having to walk too far distresses many senior citizens, as well as those who have disabilities.
“My dream,” Holinsworth said, “is to improve roads to hard surfaces,” like that of the entrance.
Don Cress preceded Holinsworth as sexton, a position he held for 40 years, 1983 to 2022.
“Don did very well as sexton and left the cemetery in good condition,” said Holinsworth. “We owe him, and many others over the years, a debt of gratitude.”
Craig and Jeanie Newman are in their first year of mowing the cemetery’s grass. On average it takes them about 35 hours to cut the 40 acres.
Some cemeteries arrange tombstones in a grid, said Craig Newman. “That sure is not true here, but we have reached the point where we know how to go about the job.” Having zero-turn mowers helps immensely in navigating the estimated 5,200-5,500 tombstones of various sizes and shapes.
The Newmans said they were surprised how many people visited the cemetery. Some simply drive through while others get out of their vehicles and talk with their loved ones.
“You also see a lot of history in the names” on gravestones, Craig Newman said.
Mowing the cemetery is a side job for the Newmans, who for the last 30 years have operated a lawn care business in addition to their fulltime jobs. Todd is city manager for Chanute while Jeanie has Jae & Co women’s clothing store in Humboldt.
WOODS RETIRED in the early 1990s from Monarch Cement after 40 years as a machinery repair mechanic.
