Rural Missouri - September 2021 - 31

The church and school may be gone, but funerals continue
at Sugar Creek. In addition to selling, recording and
marking the lots, the cemetery association is charged with
marking the gravesites for burials and performing or hiring
out the regular upkeep. During Memorial Day weekend,
board members can be seen greeting visitors and tidying
the grounds. The board seeks input year-round on any
additional projects the cemetery may need. Simple maintenance
can be a diffi cult task: When it comes to
managing the remaining dirt excavated from
graves and removing decorations and memorials,
the costs mount.
" My goal was to make the cemetery take care
of itself by the time I died, " says Tim, who has
served on the Sugar Creek board since 1985.
" I'm not planning on dying for a long time, but
we're closer now than we've ever been. "
The board's worries in 2021 mirror those of
the cemetery's caretakers more than a century before.
According to a retrospective published in 1957 by the
Moberly Monitor-Index and Democrat, a movement to create
a self-sustaining endowment for Sugar Creek Cemetery
began in 1919. Prior to that time, volunteers tended the
churchyard a few times a year making minimal progress
against encroaching vegetation and constant erosion.
Help came in the form of Jesse Rubey, a Moberly native
and Kansas City businessman who visited his hometown
on a genealogical mission. Upon learning of his connection
to the cemetery's beginnings, Jesse promptly made a
contribution and advocated for the creation of a cemetery
association, which was chartered by the state in 1922.
Jesse would be laid to rest at Sugar Creek in 1956. His
contribution, along with a donation from the estate of Logan
Cunningham, pledges made by the then-current board
members and AT&T stock purchased by board member
Walter Buchanan, formed the basis of the endowment that
still assists the association today. Along with the sales
of plots and donations, the endowment helps meet the
roughly $5,000 in annual maintenance costs.
" It's fi nally getting to where it can pay for mowing and
gravel as long as nothing else goes wrong, but things come
up that you don't anticipate, " Tim says. The strong wind
that puts a tree into the cemetery road, the seasonal freezing
and thawing that wreak havoc on the slabs and stone
pillars and the occasional damage from visiting vehicles
are harsh realities on the association's bank account. But
they have to be addressed to provide a place of peace.
That's where the efforts of volunteers have played a
signifi cant role. A retired businessman from the community
has repaired some of the aging headstones which
have cracked and broken due to erosion and vandalism.
Others cataloged the grave markers for www.
Moberly
fi ndagrave.com, a popular resource for genealogy
research. As of June, 92% of the cemetery's stones
have been recorded. These projects are a great
help to the board, who have limited information
on who may have been buried and where.
" I just know if someone bought lots, and
sometimes I can't even tell that for sure, " Tim
says, referencing the survey map. When he and Gary
joined the board, they inherited cardboard box archives
kept by their predecessors, which consisted of handwritten
notes concerning the transactions. " A lot of times they'd
just write 'so and so bought this plot' on a piece of paper.
That's the way information was transferred. "
In the same way, the board members hope to confer
their commitment to Sugar Creek Cemetery on to new,
younger members. Presently the board has strong representation
with 11 volunteers, but they only have to look to
the past to know that number waxes and wanes. The end
of life isn't top of mind for many people who have yet to enter
the autumn of their years, but as Tim found out nearly
four decades ago, the call to keep caring for a community
after members have passed on may fi nd you at any time.
" It builds character, " Tim says. Although he says it with
a hearty laugh, he's earnest. " It will make them a better
person. "
To contact the Sugar Creek Cemetery Association, write
them at 1720 Longwood Drive, Moberly, MO 65270.
Left: Some of the oldest and most ornate headstones date to the time when Sugar Creek was its own small community. Right: The cemetery
originated around the Sugar Creek Church, which burned in 1923. Photo courtesy Sugar Creek Cemetery Association.
SEPTEMBER 2021 | RURALMISSOURI.COOP 31

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Rural Missouri - September 2021

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