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For Immediate Release
January 25, 2010

Contact:
Bill Passodelis
908-851-9365

In the mid 1800s, British Prime Minister William Gladstone wrote:

“Show me the manner in which a nation or community
cares for its dead, and I will measure with mathematical
exactness the tender mercies of its people, their respect
for the laws of the land, and their loyalty to high ideals.”

Cemeteries throughout the world are testaments to the respect and devotion people have for their loved ones. Burial with a permanent memorial is a record that a life has been lived and commemorated with dignity.

In many areas there are old cemeteries — public and private — religious and non-denominational — which have been abandoned or fallen into a state of disrepair because they lack the funds for proper maintenance. Some psychiatric hospital cemeteries are among those that have been abandoned.

Non-profit organizations, a university, a college, a historian and a prison joined together to help restore a psychiatric hospital cemetery in Western New York, which is helping to return the dignity to the patients buried there. The restoration project participants included:

Students and faculty from St. Bonaventure University, through the school’s Franciscan Center for Social Concern

Students and faculty from Siena College’s School of Social Work – a Catholic college near Albany, New York

Friends of Rural Cemeteries, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping cemeteries that have fallen on hard times to help ensure that they maintain the highest level of service and pay respect to the communities they serve

Operation Dignity, a national effort to restore old and abandoned psychiatric hospital cemeteries

Collins Correctional Facility – in Collins, New York (Erie County)

People, Inc., an Amherst-based agency serving Western New York’s developmentally disabled population

Cattaraugus County Mental Health Association

Phillip Phalen, Gowanda historian

The Project: Everyone Unites
Several years ago, local members of Operation Dignity uncovered the cemetery, which was buried beneath thick weeds and overgrown brush. They cleared the area and representatives from Collins Correctional Facility agreed to maintain the property.

Two years ago, volunteers from People, Inc. began tapping the ground with plastic poles in a grassy area approximately a half mile from the Collins Correctional Facility in an effort to locate the concrete memorials that mark the graves of the 1,200 patients from Gowanda Psychiatric Hospital who were buried at Wheater Road Cemetery. The burials took place between 1898 when the hospital opened and 1994 when it closed. Each marker includes a number representing a patient and a wreath for a person of the Protestant faith, a cross for each Catholic, or a Star of David for the Jewish tradition.

People, Inc. formed alliances with the Cattaraugus County Mental Health Association and officials from the correctional facility.

Friends of Rural Cemeteries Provides Support
Friends of Rural Cemeteries provided a grant to support a panel discussion on Oct. 2, 2009, the evening before the college and university students and faculty began working in the cemetery. The panel explored the topic “Mental Health Cemetery Restoration and the Rights of Deceased Mental Health Consumers: Where Should We Draw the Line?”

Panelists Faith Tanner-Thrush, advocate and board member of the Mental Health Association of Cattaraugus County; Tom Wallace, director of the Western Regional Office of the New York State Office of Mental Health; and Phil Phalen, Gowanda historian discussed whether states should release the names of former psychiatric center residents in an effort to restore dignity to their burial sites.

“The cemetery industry has an obligation to provide aid to all cemeteries in need,” said Bernard Stoecklein, founder of Friends of Rural Cemeteries. “We take great pride in our role as caretakers of community heritage and one way of the many ways we make a difference is by helping to restore cemeteries in need,” Mr. Stoecklein said.

Students Gain Experience and Cemetery Benefits
On Oct. 3, the students and faculty worked diligently to locate and unearth the grave markers. Each marker that was found was moved to the surface, cleaned with soap and water and given a new based edged with gravel.

“We were excited to work with such a dedicated group of volunteers,” said Sr. Suzanne M. Kush, director of the Franciscan Center for Social Concern at St. Bonaventure University. “Our students and those from Siena College gained invaluable outside experience that complements their classroom work while helping to bring dignity and closure to the resting places of those deceased and forgotten individuals.”

You Can Help Too
There are many ways to help cemeteries in need of tender loving care. You could volunteer your time to help in beautification efforts; send a tax-deductible gift; or when planning your estate, you may bequest a gift.
If you want to lend a helping hand, send a gift, or for more information about Friends of Rural Cemeteries, contact:

Friends of Rural Cemeteries, Inc.
c/o CMS Mid-Atlantic, Inc.
609 Epsilon Drive
Pittsburgh, PA 15238
412/967-6200
sschwenk@cmsmidatlantic.com