Announcements

We will have our spring cemetery cleanup on the first non-rainy Saturday in April. This year we’re planning to begin our cleanup on Saturday, April 6, at 9:30 a.m. At that time, we will remove all decorations in front of, behind, on or top of monuments, or in vases, permanent or temporary. Before Saturday, April 6, please remove decorations you would like to save in anticipation of this cleanup.

This will be a total cleanup of the entire cemetery. We will not move mementos unless they are broken, damaged or look to be in ill repair, or are in the mowing lane. We will remove undecorated shepherd hooks and flag holders.

Starting on April 7, you may decorate as you wish. Your new decorations will then remain in place until the first non-rainy Saturday in October, which will be Saturday, October 5, 2024.

If volunteers would like to help with this spring cleanup, please join us on April 6 at the George Boyd Memorial Chapel on the cemetery property at 9:30 a.m. We will have bags; bring your gloves. We usually get this accomplished in an hour or two.

You will note several hoses on various water spigots located throughout the cemetery. We usually also place orange poles on selected gravesites, indicating that we will put sod on those graves in the near future. The poles also remind volunteers which graves are to be watered on a twice daily basis for three to four weeks after the sod is placed.

If you are visiting the cemetery and looking for something to do, please feel free to pick up any of the hoses and water graves to your heart’s content. No one will stop you!

There are several other bare graves within the cemetery. We will attempt to get grass to grow on all of them, but have had trouble with the dry weather. We will try a different approach this summer.

Several of you have asked about a workshop on cleaning of headstones.  That is still on my “To Do List”.  However, there are (and always have been) basic instructions of cleaning headstones on our website.  If interested, check that out below.

There are several headstones within Pleasant Valley Cemetery that are missing the final date on the headstone. You are encouraged, as a sign of respect, to have that final date engraved on your loved one’s headstone. You can contact Gough Memorial Engraving and they would be happy to quote you a price to have this work completed [(913) 669-3952].

Several individuals have signed up to participate in the newly reconstituted Friends of PVC. This is a group of volunteers who agree to adopt a particular section of the cemetery and perform routine maintenance throughout the entire year. The idea is to visit their assigned section(s) periodically and look for items that need to be picked up and disposed of such as trash, expired decorations and branches and twigs as well as straightening up veteran markers, flag holders and other items that need a little tender loving care.

We would like to thank these individuals for signing up:

If anyone else would like to join this happy group of Volunteers called Friends of PVC, please send an email to pleasantvalleyks@gmail.com or give us a call and we will add you to the list.

Periodically, we call for candidates to become future board members of Pleasant Valley Cemetery. Each term is for three years. We have four quarterly board meetings, generally lasting about two hours, and an Annual Meeting on the first Saturday of August, also lasting about two hours. There are other occasional time commitments, but nothing most people can manage. The board meetings are set, depending on the schedule of the members of the Board. Currently they are held on a weekday evening from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., but that can change depending upon the wishes of the sitting board.

If you have an interest in serving on the board of directors for Pleasant Valley Cemetery, please let us know by phone or email, and we will have a discussion. We have nine (9) directors. We have a particular interest in individuals who have knowledge, skills, and abilities in the field of general accounting or bookkeeping for the position of assistant treasurer, and individuals who might like to take notes of the meetings and produce minutes for our secretary position. We also have a need for a board member who is familiar with the field of investments, as an interface with our investment management partners.

We are grateful for the wonderful response that we received for our Monument Restoration Program. Your generosity and care for the preservation of our Cemetery is heartwarming and all donations are greatly appreciated. It is our intent to look at all the headstone monuments in the older sections of our cemetery and identify those that are becoming a safety hazard or deteriorating to the point that they are looking bad. We will then prioritize the repair work and use whatever funds are generated to do the repairs.

If you wish to make a donation to the Monument Restoration Program, please let me know and I will provide information, or send a check payable to Pleasant Valley Cemetery to our post office box.

In conjunction with the Monument Restoration Program, we will hold some Headstone Cleaning events at which volunteers can work alongside each other in cleaning the older stones. We will provide guidance and instructions as needed, and will look forward to fun and productive events. You are invited participate when they are announced.

The cemetery can be extremely windy all year long. If you put out decorations or arrangements, please make sure that they are securely fastened so they don’t get blown away. If we find arrangements within the cemetery, we have no idea where they came from and we don’t want to randomly place them on a nearby grave. Unfortunately, we just discard them.

We get asked that question a lot and always appreciate being asked. Our response is that anytime you visit the cemetery, bring a small plastic bag with you and pick up any sticks or other trash you see around your immediate area. Also, if you are feeling particularly ambitious and it is a nice day, pick one or our many trees and rake around it. It is amazing how many small twigs and branches can litter the ground underneath the older trees. We have a trash bin at the south end of the cemetery and bigger items can be placed behind the enclosure for our later disposal. Additionally, if you have a small broom, you can always sweep off the monument headstones in your immediate area.

Every little bit helps us out tremendously. No set times or schedule just do as little or as much as you can whenever you can. We sincerely appreciate all the help that we can get.

Some of you have expressed an interest in how to clean your headstone/monuments. While the monuments are usually stone or granite, you still need to exercise some degree of caution. The best and easiest method is to use a mixture of 50% water and 50% white vinegar. On limestone, you should use a mixture of 75% water and 25% white vinegar. It is best to wet the monument first and then use a soft bristle brush, either natural or synthetic and clean from the bottom up to the top in small circular motions. Do not use bleach! Use lots of water. If you need a hose put out for this project, please let us know and we’ll make sure they are nearby. They clean up very nicely and will look great for a long time. It’s well worth the effort!