Riverside Cemetery

I, a genealogist and avid headstone hunter, grabbed my phone and my North County Cemeteries/Pacific County Washington book, from the Pacific County Historical Society & Museum. It lists 38 cemeteries; Fern Hill/Menlo has its own book. I drove out the Monohon Road and turned onto the Washington Cemetery Road. As I recalled, this cemetery was divided by the road. My recollection proved to be incorrect as I opened my book and discovered there are three cemeteries at this location. The Washington Cemetery is on the left side of the road, and the Riverside and FOE 1631 cemeteries are on the right. Only the FOE Cemetery had any identification, but it was a small stone located inside the cemetery. All three were completely overgrown and even the tall headstones were barely visible. I couldn’t do this alone. I decided to write a Thrivent grant. The Thrivent Choice charitable grant program allows Thrivent members and Thrivent Member Networks to request $250 per project, to participate in a charitable activity. I attend First Lutheran Church of South Bend, and our pastor, Dale Larson, thought this would be a great project for National Make a Difference Day, an annual community service event held on the fourth Saturday in October. First Lutheran Church’s AmeriCorps volunteer, Tina Kebow, gathered the nine Pacific County AmeriCorps workers to join in making a difference. Imagine our surprise when we gathered at the cemetery and discovered that someone or some group had already cut back all the tall grass. We decided to clean and document headstones. We found all but four of the headstones listed in the book and had a great time. Now, we had to decide how to spend the grant money to best help the project. It was decided that a sign for the Riverside Cemetery would help end the confusion. I called Coastline Sign in Aberdeen and spoke to the manager, Scott Lowe. I told him our story and that we only had $250. He loved the project and volunteered to pitch in the rest of the money for the sign we wanted. He also volunteered to s...

Like Jennifer Hartley's mother, Karen. She died a few years ago from a heart attack. "It's hard. I may be 36 but you always need your mom and it was kind of sudden," said Jennifer. Jan Buehrer has several family members laid to rest here. Including her aunt, her Grandma Isabelle and Grandpa Thomas. "Unfortunately they both died in their 40s of cancer just nine months apart. So, my dad had to quit school and take care of his younger siblings and so I never knew my grandparents...We visited here a lot. We always came out and checked their grave and stopped and talked to them, but I never really knew them," shared Jan. Jennifer's family picked Riverside because her parents loved spending time in Side Cut Metropark. But, they knew this is a floodplain. "The thought of the casket sitting in water makes you uneasy, but there's nothing that can be done about it. I mean it's not like it's the cemetery's fault or the city's fault," said Jennifer. Jan has been through this before. Decades ago she climbed over ice searching for her loved one's graves. In 2015, chunks of ice pushed tombstones as far as 20 yards away. "We don't think it's as bad this year as it was back in 2015. So, I'm sure there's going to be some stones that need to be up righted again and we will take care of that," said Maumee Police sergeant Andrew Dean. Thursday Maumee Police posted a video on Facebook showing tombstones covered by flood waters, which block the roads leading to the burial ground. As of Saturday, Sgt. Dean didn't know the depth of the water, but knew it "went down quite a bit." Massive boulders of ice blocked parts of River Road. About a mile away from the cemetery is as close as you can get. The extent of damage won't be known until the water recedes and city ...

For the third year, Riverside National Cemetery will host a National Medal of Honor Ceremony and the public is invited.The free event is set for Saturday, March 2, at 1 p.m. at the National Medal of Honor Memorial in the  cemetery, 22495 Van Buren Blvd. No reservations are needed.In 1990, Congress designated March 25 as National Medal of Honor Day. The cemetery is one of four sites in the U.S. recognized as a National Medal of Honor Memorial Site, a U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs news release states.After the event, guests may visit the graves of the five Medal of Honor Recipients buried on cemetery grounds. They also can see the Medal of Honor Memorial, the Fallen Soldiers/Veterans Memorial and the Prisoner of War/Missing in Action Memorial.Rep. Mark Takano, D-Riverside, is scheduled to speak, according to cemetery officials. Also set to address guests are Randy Reeves, undersecretary for memorial affairs, and Cathy Ehlers Metcalf, daughter of Medal of Honor recipient Staff Sgt. Walter Ehlers, who is interred at the cemetery. In addition, five families of Medal of Honor Recipients are expected to attend.