Scout Stout’s project helps preserve cemetery history
Kevin Stout was one of the volunteers that went to Evergreen Cemetery last week to clean headstones. The project was headed by Kevin’s brother, Aaron Stout. (Steve Van Kooten/Courier Press)
By Steve Van Kooten
Aaron Stout, along with a group of volunteers, arrived at Evergreen Cemetery at 6 p.m. on August 13 and 14 to clean moss and lichen off of headstones. He was on a mission to preserve Prairie du Chien’s past — to keep history alive in a cemetery.
“Headstones are good genealogical records for people. Otherwise we might not know they were alive or where they were born or died,” said Stout.
Stout, who organized the work for his Eagle Scouts service project, came up with the idea when his troop removed flags after Memorial Day.
“We pick up flags for veterans after Flag Day,” said Mike Mara, Stout’s scoutmaster. “They put them out, and we go through and always end up at this cemetery last.”
“I just saw a lot of graves that needed to be cleaned and were in bad repair,” added Stout.
After Stout came up with the idea and put a plan together, Mara went to President of the Evergreen Cemetery Board, David Glawe, for approval to work on the grave markers. Glawe then forwarded the idea to the board.
“I just asked [the board] if we were willing to listen or have him clean,” said Glawe.
Initially, the board was concerned about what types of chemicals would be used for the cleaning and the tools Stout wanted to use.
“That’s why we wanted him to do research on it first. He actually did a demonstration one night when we were out here and showed us what he was going to use,” he said.
Glawe and the board called a special meeting after the demonstration and approved Stout’s proposal. In preparation, Stout came out to the cemetery and marked the chosen headstones with pink flags.
Later, Glawe made sure none of the oldest stones were marked for cleaning.
“We told him some of the sandstone ones are pretty fragile,” said Glawe. “Even rubbing on them will wear the names off.”
Stout provided simple but effective tools to his volunteers: scrubbing brushes, wooden scrapers, tooth brushes, a little dish soap and water. As they worked, scrapers cleaved wet moss from the names of people’s grandfathers, grandmothers, great aunts and uncles. Some of the stones went back centuries.
Evergreen Cemetery Board Member John Goree said, “The cemetery has records that go back to the 1800s. Some of the [headstones] you don’t even know until you scrape away a bit to see their names.”
According to Glawe, community service and volunteerism are a boon for Evergreen because it does not receive much external financial support.
He said, “It’s a great thing they are doing for our cemetery. A lot of people assume [the cemetery] is funded through the city, but it’s not in any way. They have absolutely nothing to do with it.”
The Evergreen Cemetery is a five-acre non-denominational cemetery; people of any religious affiliation can be interred there. But that also means that it does not receive financial support from a church like, say, a Catholic cemetery would.
Glawe said that Evergreen’s funding mostly comes from selling plots, but that money doesn’t go far to cover the maintenance and upkeep of the grounds; he said it costs the cemetery $1,250 just for one mowing.
“You pretty much have to see two plots to pay for a mowing,” he said.
The cemetery’s other source of revenue is through private donations. At the entrance to the grounds, there is a donation box; however, Glawe said that it is empty more often than not.
So, the next time you pass by the Evergreen Cemetery, take a look at Scout Stout’s work and think about leaving a few dollars. Even if it’s in a cemetery, there’s no reason for the donation box to look like an empty grave.
