The Eugene Pioneer Cemetery Association met with members of the Eugene community Saturday at the Central Lutheran Church to reveal the association’s plan for the “restoration, preservation and enhancement” of the Pioneer Cemetery. Located at E. 18th Avenue and University Street, the Pioneer Cemetery is one of Eugene’s most-used historic sites, and it is in need of some repairs to preserve it, according to the EPCA.
The plan, which grew out of the association’s desire to fulfill the initial goals set down in 1956, was developed by Sally Donovan, a 1987 University graduate with a master’s degree in historic preservation, to help guide the EPCA toward restoring the cemetery.
Donovan’s recommendations include suggestions for improving functionality for cemetery users, such as putting up new entrance signs, attempting to modify or shift walking paths that go directly above unmarked graves and replanting Douglas fir trees that used to line the two main avenues of the older part of the cemetery.
Donovan dedicated the plan to Ruth Lake Holmes, a Eugene resident who has been with the EPCA from its start. Holmes said she got involved because her parents and grandparents are buried in the Pioneer Cemetery.
“I came on the board as temporary trustee in 1956, so I said, ‘Fine, I’ll do it temporarily.’ Well, temporary turned into eternal, and I’ve been there ever since,” she said.
At 140 years old, there are few cemeteries as well-kept as the Pioneer Cemetery, Donovan said.
“The fact that it has groundskeepers is fantastic,” she said. “Really, the whole thing has been kept up incredibly well; we just want to help it get better.”
Mary Ellen Rodgers, a historic preservation student studying with Donovan, is a neighbor of the cemetery who noted the importance of the city coming together to recognize the site’s needs.
“It’s a part of this community,” Rodgers said. “We use it in the labs for the preservation classes, and it’s a part of this town’s history.”
Steven Neuman is a freelance reporter
for the Oregon Daily Emerald.