The first meeting of the Restore McCord group is this afternoon at the Century House in Irving. I thought this would be a good day to review what's already been done!
A master list of interments has been created, based on a compilation of cemetery readings conducted in 1946, 1980 and 1985, as well as purchase receipts for burial plots and a few obituaries. Special thanks to volunteer Jeanne Johnson for all of the hours she spent compiling this list. We will be working to make the master list more complete and accurate as our work continues.
Memorials for 261 individuals buried at McCord have been posted at the “Find A Grave” website (www.findagrave.com). When available, photos of headstones, obituaries or portraits can be posted here, as well as “virtual” flowers and notes. Again, Jeanne Johnson has been the driver of this effort.
The cemetery has been cleared of brush and brambles in the past few months. I posted some before and after photos previously, and they are amazing! A huge swath of brush and brambles were cleared away, giving us access to parts of the cemetery that were nearly impossible to reach. A big “thank you” to Dale and Keith Walcher, who have accomplished all of this.
While we’re hoping that much of our work will be done by volunteers, we have started fundraising to support the future efforts of Restore McCord. Our gratitude goes out to our generous supporters:
Molly & Todd Bennington
Haidee & Samuel Morehead
Kimberly Goetz
Marilyn & Galen Strain
Lemar Hartman
Joyce & Rich Williams
Jeanne Johnson
Irving Area Historical Museum
Sarah Lee
Village of Irving
Mark Paden
The idea for Restore McCord was sparked in late August of this year. Look at all that has been accomplished in a little over 2 months! As more and more volunteers get involved, just imagine what we can do by this time next year!
