Mo. Beach Woman Seeks Relief From Cemetery Upkeep

     Carol E. Johnson showed up at the selectmen’s meeting this week with a record book that was started in 1907. That book noted the action taken since then by the caretakers of the Gray Gables Cemetery on Shore Road.
     What started out a century ago as the responsibility of a group of prominent citizens who belonged to the Monument Neck Cemetery Corporation has now fallen entirely on Ms. Johnson of Carlton Road.
     That responsibility has begun to weigh on her, she said, and she is asking the town if it could take over the cemetery’s care.
     Her father, Alden Baker, began managing the cemetery’s perpetual care fund in 1972, she said. He took over from her grandmother, who was one of the earliest caretakers of the Shore Road property.
     Along the way, Ms. Johnson said, she was drafted and is now looking after the property in which members of many of Bourne’s influential families are buried.
     She reported that there is still $6,900 in the cemetery’s fund, and that it has been costing about $500 a year to mow and maintain the grounds, which Town Administrator Thomas M. Guerino described as small, but beautiful.
     She said a Falmouth man is only charging her $75 to mow the cemetery, something he does about four times a season.
     As far as she knows, there is no longer a Monument Neck Cemetery Corporation, and that there has not been one for some time. The certificate of incorporation for that entity was filed on December 2, 1907, according to the Secretary of State’s database. While it was never formally disbanded, its current location and officers are listed as unknown.
     Ms. Johnson said her father is now 90 years old and suffering from failing health and failing memory, and can no longer help with the cemetery.
     She said she has been offered more help with things like mowing the grass, but explained that she does not want help, she wants to pass on the responsibility to the town. She does not want to worry about whom she would name to take over from her when she is no longer able to fulfill the obligation.
     Mr. Guerino told selectmen that Ms. Johnson, who approached him about the cemetery soon after he came to Bourne, has been more than patient. He said, however, that he has been concerned with the precedent that would be set, given the number of larger cemeteries that might be the subject of similar requests.
     He noted that the town does not have a parks department that could take on that type of ongoing maintenance.
     He asked Rickie J. Tellier, head of the Department of Public Works, if the town maintained any other cemeteries. Mr. Tellier said he was not aware of any.
     Mr. Tellier also said that he could at least do some cleanup work on the grounds, clearing vines and making the cemetery’s walls more visible, for example. Then, Mr. Tellier said, maintaining the grounds would be easier.
     Selectman Judith W. Conron said the cemetery needed, at the very least, an administrator. She said a Gray Gables group might be willing to take on the responsibility. Selectman John A. Ford suggested that perhaps one of the town’s historical groups might be interested in taking it over.
     Mr. Guerino said he wanted more time to bring the selectmen a viable alternative to having the town take over the grounds.