As the Rockford Lions Club restores the Pioneer Cemetery next to North Rockford Middle School, they are piling up a stack of cuttings ranging from saplings to six-inch-diameter logs. While the city hauls this away during the week, this is a good opportunity for anyone handy with a saw to come to the west parking lot and cut their fall firewood supply. The firewood is free. However, any help in felling trees and clearing the brush is always appreciated.
With good weather, some luck and the welcomed direction of the Rockford Garden Club, the cemetery will once again be presentable this fall. Despite good intentions, this old cemetery had become forgotten, overgrown and neglected—the Rockford Lions Club decided our forbears deserved better treatment. When finished, the Lions will hold an “open house,” allowing many of our town’s residents to once again find and easily visit Great Aunt Millie or Great-Grandpa Henry’s resting place. Unfortunately, many of the markers and monuments have suffered over the years and correcting this will become another project.
For free firewood, the Rockford Lions Club welcomes everyone to the cemetery each Saturday between 8 and 10 a.m.
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