Thanks so much, Meredith, for sharing this information... I can't imagine trimming around all the headstones by hand -- GO MOM!! That must have taken a lot of time. I give heartfelt praise to all of you local folks who took care of the cemeteries - for such a small amount of pay. Hindsight is always perfect -- but I should have had you give me the directions. Did you know Miles Leeper back then? He and his wife mow and trim the cemeteries now. He said he'd lived where he does, all his life. (He has a zero turn John Deere mower and his wife uses the gas string trimmer).. I got a good laugh out of your mower catching on fire -- even though it probably wasn't funny at the time... My Best Always, Nancee --------------------------------------------------------------------- Nancee: Glad you enjoyed the cemeteries of Woodland Township. Back in the early 50's my mom and I were the caretakers of the 5 cemeteries in Woodland Township for a few years. We had to put in a bid each spring with the trustees to win the job. Ususally about $325 dollars for the summer. The township furnished the mower and we furnished the labor. I mowed and Mom trimed around the stones. Trimming was quite a job before string trimmers so I had the good deal. I remember one time while mowing the Beavers cemetery the mower caught on fire. Fire was shooting out of the vent hole in the gas cap about 4 feet. I hauled out of there and watched until it was over. I was glad to see that one go. It had a Clinton engine and they sucked. Got a new one with a Briggs and Stratton. As you mentioned, the Shields and Lentz cemeteries were on dead-end roads. The Shields was just west of the Bert Adair place. A lane on the west side of the Shields cemetery went south to an old bachelors place, Charlie Johnson. He never had a car. Always went to Woodland in his wagon behing a team. The road to the Lentz cemetery was a through road at one time. When I was little it ended about a quartere of a mile or so south of the cemetery. The last family I remember living at the end of the road was the Mericle family. The Pattons (Deles and Velma and their kids Nile, Gary, Doris, Fay and Dorothy) lived on the corner where the road went south. Meredith Johnston Spencer

> Thanks so much, Meredith, for sharing this information... Did you > know Miles Leeper back then? He and his wife mow and trim the cemeteries > now. He said he'd lived where he does, all his life. (He has a zero turn > John Deere mower and his wife uses the gas string trimmer).. Yep, I know Miles and Gladys. Where you went south to the Lentz Cemetery, if you had turned north and gone a mile and a half or so you would have been at their farm. I will probably see them at the end of June if they show up at the Woodland Reunion. If anyone wants to see what people from the Woodland area look like show up at the Barnum Community Center an hour or so before noon on June 27th and you will be able to observe a whoe bunch of us. Bring a hot dish and your own table service. Might want to bring a plate too. The reunion used to be held at the fair grounds in Leon but the price went beyond our groups modest means so it was moved to Decatur. Sometimes the donations to the kitty barely cover the expense. Barnum is a great facility. Judy and Fay Patton are responsible for the arrangements. Judy even put together a Woodland history book 3 or 4 years ago. mj