Cemetery upkeep is labor of love for trio

Linda Reynolds

Tommy Jones, 58 (far left), points to where they need a stump grinder to remove an old stump that has destroyed a grave site. Frank Smith, 93 (center), who owns this cemetery through Milstead Association, has been researching the names on the graves to try to locate living relatives of those buried here – some date back to the mid 1800s. Above, William Moon, 71, looks sadly at a dilapidated grave site in the Milstead Cemetery.  He and Tommy Jones have taken it upon themselves to refurbish this graveyard with their own hands and money – Moon has spent around $200 thus far. This cemetery belonged to the Baptist Church long ago, but no one claims responsibility for its upkeep at present. –Photos by Colin Owens

I met three men this week who volunteer time to maintain a local cemetery. They contribute to their community without reward or recognition. They toil in inclement weather and under difficult circumstances on their own volition. They do not brag of their good work. They simply state that their labor weekly, sometimes daily, for the last decade, becomes an enjoyable task, when they remember to be grateful for those, now buried, who dealt with hardships and set the standards we enjoy today.
Matthew 6:2 (NIV) states: “So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full.”
The first of the three is Mr. Frank Smith. Mr. Smith was born an advocate. He arrived in Milstead as an 8-year-old, and has seen his village grow in and out of prosperity. He attended A&M in Monroe majoring in journalism and mechanics. These studies  served him well in his career with the Conyers News, Covington News, Newton Observer, Rockdale Citizen and Callaway Mills.
In the ’60s and ’70s, his duties included gathering news for print, writing about sports, writing features and sometimes a column – but always he kept things running, such as the press and other machinery. Smith worked from 6 a.m.- 2 p.m. for Callaway Mills and the balance of the afternoon for Mr. Tom Hay and the newspapers. Smith retired from Callaway with 31 years of service. He is also a retired magistrate judge.
He attends Milstead Baptist Church. In his spare time, he serves as a historian, bringing to light in books and features the circumstances that created his village. From its original paper mill and name, Long Shoals, to the sale of land to the A.J. Mistead Family for a mill and power plant, to the Callaway Mills era beginning in 1905, Smith knows and records its history.
The second of the three is Mr. William Moon. Moon was raised – and, I quote – “in the toughest section of Atlanta, Cabbage Town.” He served in the U.S. Army for 25 years, is retired from the City of Atlanta with 29 and a half years, and amazingly served in Desert Storm as a 58-year-old in the National Guard. He became a resident of Milstead Village in 1978. Moon will not describe himself as an advocate, but he is a practical man. He says he began helping Smith maintain the old cemetery on Main Street because the rats and snakes making their homes in unkempt gravesites were not the neighbors he wanted.

The third man is Mr. Tommy Jones. Jones moved to Milstead Village from Gallant, Ala., in 1972. In 1974, his 2-year-old daughter, Regina, received a life-threatening head injury after a fall from a dining room chair. The entire community was in prayer for her, while she underwent extensive brain surgery. She recently returned to her parents’ home in Milstead to recuperate from open-heart surgery. Her parents share the caretaker role. Jones could easily use his daughter’s recent illness as an excuse to let someone else maintain the Old Milstead Cemetery. But, he explained, “Families in Alabama, north to south, hold Decoration Day (where) we go to an old home church for the weekend. Everyone comes home, children, great-grandchildren and great-greats. We bring rakes, hoes, gloves, etc. and work all day to clean and tidy old cemeteries. We enjoy a picnic lunch, and always donate $20-$25 to a fund to care for the cemetery until the same time next year. It doesn’t take much effort when everyone works together, and sometimes the fund is as much as $3,000.”
Since 1990, when the Milstead Homeowners’ Association, under the leadership of then 80-year-old Mr. Smith, decided to take responsibility for the neglected cemetery, some maintenance has been on-going; but they didn’t go in with the chainsaws until after the tornado in 1995. Some of the tombstones were possibly toppled by erosion and tornado, but some were obviously toppled by vandals, Jones and Smith agreed. The three volunteers have set upright a few stones.
The gas for mowing comes out of their personal pockets. They hope to afford a little cement from time to time to steady the newly uprighted stones – and need to purchase a great deal of fire ant bait. Several of the stones have dates in the early 1800s. Most of those relatives may be dead. A few markers are only 10 or 15 years old. They hope to get in touch with “living kin,” who might be able to come once a year for a major clean up – a Decoration Day. Then, they can handle maintenance the balance of the year.
“I think of the grief we all feel at losing someone. It is good to honor them with a memorial grave site. … This one doesn’t say much when trees and bushes are allowed to grow on graves of such antiquity,” Jones said. “When someone called into the Citizen phone poll stating that the Old Milstead Cemetery was an eyesore, Mr. Moon called the next week and put in his phone as a contact number in the poll for anyone who might want to help clean up the ‘eyesore.’ Mr. Smith sent out letters asking for a big community clean-up day. The only people to show up were Mr. Smith, Mr. Moon and myself. We worked all day … it looked a lot better, but if everyone had pitched in, it would have been a blessing to that many more people.”
The three men don’t ask to be relieved from any of their volunteer responsibilities, they only ask for some one-time help – a company with a stump grinder to grind the stumps from trees downed by the tornado – perhaps for a one-time tax deduction. They would be pleased if descendants and villagers would declare a once-a-year Decoration Day. When people band together barns have been raised, nations built, wars won and, in this case, history preserved.

I would wish for a preservation group, church group, service group, scout group or environmental group to adopt the cemetery as a project once or twice a year. The motivations might be as wide in range as those of the three current volunteer caretakers, but the result could be a treasure from the community, historical and environmental perspectives.
Mr. Smith is completing a catalog of the graves in the Old Milstead Cemetery hoping to find heirs who don’t know where their folks are buried. A neighbor’s guest, a captain in the Marine Corps, just dropped in a few days ago. He was on his way from Maryland to Augusta. When he read the partially completed list, he found six names he believed might be his relatives. He had no idea they were buried in Old Milstead Cemetery. Milstead Baptist Church, across the street from the cemetery, is 113 years old. The small non-denominational church beside the cemetery was Methodist from 1919 until quite recently, and Presbyterian before it was Methodist. Therefore, a lot of folks from all denominations are buried there.
Forty-fifty graves with only fieldstones for markers are being cataloged from weathered inscriptions. The formerly hidden section, uncovered when the trees were removed, dates a dozen or so graves in the 1790s.
When I called Mr. Smith to set up an interview, his comment was “I was just thinking about some way I could let folks see we could use some help … when the Good Lord sent your photographer out here and took care of it for me.”