Leechburg Cemetery Co. seeks assistance with grounds maintenance
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The Leechburg Cemetery Company doesn’t have enough volunteers to maintain the grounds that command a hill off of Pershing and Evergreen roads.
Knee-high grass and weeds compete with numerous Memorial Day flags recently placed on tombstones at The Leechburg Cemetery. Volunteer and borough resident Larry Boehm squeezes in time mowing and trimming the cemetery grounds when he’s not working his full-time job.
“Memorial Day is approaching and it’s usually the first time we actually cut the cemetery, and it’s a big job,” Boehm said. “The real problem we have here is mowing. We need help up here and we are looking for a community organization that wants to step up, a church group or something, that can get the people together and come here and get this done.”
The cemetery overlooks parts of Route 66 and has more than 100 veterans interred on the grounds that encompass almost five acres.
Boehm serves as vice-president of a nine-person volunteer group called The Leechburg Cemetery Company, formed in 2011, with a mission of managing, protecting, improving and preserving to the best of their ability all lots in the cemetery.
He praised the other company members for their administrative work, but Boehm said he is the one tasked with the substantial mowing job.
He said it’s a challenge to maintain the grounds mostly by himself. He’s asking Leechburg residents 18 and older to help out.
“The borough doesn’t have any money or budget for the cemetery,” said Leechburg Mayor Wayne Dobos. “For the most part, Larry is a one-man show here doing everything at the cemetery.”
Boehm said the cemetery board operates on a small budget of less than $150 annually and relies on donations from the public.
Boehm said the cemetery is mowed six times annually, with Memorial Day kicking off the maintenance season.
“What we are asking for is for people to step up and help with what we already do here. We are all volunteers and nobody is paid,” said Boehm, who also volunteers on boards of the Leechburg Museum and Shade Tree Commission.
Boehm said he volunteers about 25 days annually at the cemetery, mowing with a riding and push mower, which was donated anonymously by a Leechburg resident.
Other cemetery landscaping jobs include clearing brush and trimming trees.
“Our string trimmer is currently broken,” Boehm said. “The grounds are hilly and I can’t use the riding lawnmower everywhere. The push mower donation was greatly appreciated.”
Dobos said he recently took to social media to ask for new cemetery volunteers.
“Larry is a tireless volunteer,” Dobos said. “He does so much for the borough. I don’t know how he finds time to go to work his full-time job.”
The cemetery, closed to burials since 1996, has more than 600 grave sites.
Leechburg’s founder, David Leech, is buried here.
“I volunteer here for the community, for the descendants that are buried here, for the veterans—it’s the right thing to do,” Boehm said.
The cemetery board partnered with the Leechburg Area Museum and Historical Society in 2017, and anyone wishing to donate funds for the restoration, maintenance or repair of the cemetery are asked to earmark their donation for cemetery use.
To volunteer or donate a string trimmer or equipment call 724-842-8511 or message The Leechburg Cemetery Company on Facebook