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Hubbard cemetery seeking funds to expand
By LINDA M. LINONIS
hubbard
Hubbard Union Cemetery holds memories for many residents in the city and township, as well as out-of-town visitors.
The bond may be loved ones in their earthly resting place, fond recollections of the parades that have started or ended there, attendance at poignant Memorial Day services or peaceful walks through the paved roads that weave through the well-tended plots at 210 Oakdale Ave.
The tranquil appearance belies some turmoil behind the scenes. The almost-20-acre cemetery, established in 1859, has only 138 graves available. If the cemetery doesn’t have graves to sell, it doesn’t make enough money to operate. Some sections are not yet full, but the graves have been sold.
The solution to the space problem is 6 acres on its south side. When ready for use, it would add between 3,500 and 3,600 grave sites to sell and make the cemetery about 26 acres total.
“We logged it with the Amish and sold the wood. It’s cleaned out,” said Daniel P. Livingston, sexton and clerk/treasurer of the cemetery.
The sticking point is money to build roads into that section to make it accessible.
Livingston said Hubbard Union’s 2010 operating budget is $150,000; last year it was $161,000. The city and township contribute about $41,400 from an inside-millage tax. Two-tenths of 1 mill from the city and township go to the cemetery. “In the last three or four years, the [dollar] amount has decreased,” Livingston said.
“Selling graves, preparing burial sites and installing foundations for tombstones also provide money to operate,” Livingston said. Expenses include two full-time and three part-time employees, utilities for the office and chapel and equipment maintenance. “We’ve cut every corner we can,” he said.
Money is the solution to the cemetery’s dilemma.
Could it be considered for federal-stimulus money? Bonnie Viele, cemetery vice chair and city council member, said she has found that some federal-stimulus funds have benefited veterans cemeteries.
She and Justin Silvidi, a cemetery trustee and council member, noted that the cemetery has 1,200 veterans among the 7,300 people buried there. “That’s about 20 percent,” Silvidi said.
The cemetery is the burial place of Private R. Earl Greer of the Spanish-American War, Livingston’s grandfather, to CW3 S. Blane Hepfner of the Army, who was killed in a helicopter test flight as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2009. Veterans from World War I and II, Korea and Vietnam also are buried there, as are members of the Tylee family, founders of Hubbard.
Livingston, along with Joe Gleydura, cemetery chairman and township trustee, and Viele and Silvidi will meet at 11 a.m. Thursday with Trumbull County Commissioner Frank Fuda, representatives of Gov. Ted Strickland and state Sen. Capri Cafaro of Liberty, D-32nd, and David DeChristofaro, Trumbull County engineer. The session will focus on avenues for funding including federal-stimulus money. Livingston credited Fuda and DeChristofaro with willingness to help the cemetery.
If Hubbard Union can’t resolve its revenue situation, the operation would eventually change. “It would revert to the entity, by law, with the higher population, and that is the city,” Viele said.
“The city is operating under a tight budget,” Silvidi said. If Hubbard Union would go under city control, it would increase the burden, he added. City cemeteries are Maple Grove and Old North.
Upkeep is what distinguishes Hubbard Union. “So many people tell me how nice the cemetery looks,” Viele said.
The grass is always cut and trimmed around the many upright stones and flat markers.
“Some people take it for granted,” Silvidi said.