Jeanie sent me the following email on Friday, April 25, 2003: "On Thursday evening as
we were coming back from Schoenewise cemetery we passed by Kirby Cemetery and noticed immediately that
the big Kirby stone was down. We drove into the cemetery and sadly found two other big stones and one small
one were also down. What a shame! I don't believe that it was weather or storm damage, but instead it
appears that the stones were deliberately knocked over.
I've made a police report of
the matter and am attaching the photos which we took of what we found. The large Kirby stone plus the
two tallest individual stones were down and then one small oblisque white stone was over. They
did leave one small white oblisque standing.
We found the cemetery in this condition on
April 23, 2003. We believe the stones were still standing just two weeks prior when we had passed
by the cemetery. The grand Kirby stone was one of my favorites in this county. To compare the current
status of the cemetery to the condition of the stones today, you need only compare the photos linked
to the names in the listing to these."
On a personal note - I will never ever understand what motivates young people (and that is generally
who does this) to damage a cemetery. Each year several in the surrounding counties are vandalized - what
possible enjoyment could be obtained from damaging markers which have stood for over 100 years and which
mark the resting places of our county pioneers?