Broadcaster Summer 2004
TABLE OF CONTENTS
New York State Cemeteries in the News click here
President’s Message click here
Celebrating the Living Spirit at Maple Grove click here
MCA Holds Annual Seminar and Exposition click here
Cell Tower Pays for Cemetery Development click here
Kensico Cemetery Purchases Hybrid Car click here
76th Annual Conference and Fall Meeting click here
27th Annual Public Affiars Seminar click here
White Haven Grows Their Own Flowers click here
Foxwood Memorial Park Begins Cemetery Expansion click here
Government and Legal Affairs Update click here
New Cemetery Planned for Albany Catholic Diocese click here
The Secret City: Woodlawn Cemetery and the Buried History of New York click here
Matthews Introduces New Religious Feature click here
Regional Maintenance Seminars click here
Maple Grove Dedicates Unique 9/11 Monument click here
The "Father of Baseball: Gets Base Paths at His Green-Wood Monument click here
Late Breaking News click here
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New York State Cemeteries in the News
All across New York State, our member cemeteries are making headlines.
With innovation and creativity, they are solving problems, controlling costs and attracting new visitors to their properties. Join us as we travel around the state in this issue and visit eight different cemeteries to learn about their latest projects and improvements:
* Maple Grove in Kew Gardens has erected a truly unique 9/11 monument and hosted a fascinating “living history” event.
* Foxwood Memorial Park in Ogdensburg is expanding its facilities to include additional mausoleum space, a cascading fountain in a reflection pond and a Hearthstone Room, complete with an artificial fireplace to create a welcoming sense of warmth and comfort on cold days in the North Country.
* Cemetery of the Highlands in Orange County has leased out space for a cell tower and is putting the proceeds to work repairing and developing the cemetery.
* White Haven Memorial Park in Rochester has constructed its own greenhouse, saving thousands of dollars each year on the cost of annual plantings.
* Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn is working to preserve many of its unique and historical monuments, including one to the “Father of Baseball”.
* Kensico Cemetery in Valhalla has purchased a hybrid car to save on fuel costs.
* The Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany has purchased a 100-acre parcel to develop a new parish church and cemetery.
* A new book titled “The Secret City” takes its readers on a tour of Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx to tell the history of New York City.
Perhaps one of these articles will give you just the idea you need for a project at your own cemetery. If you are a supplier, you may find a new market for that product of yours or imagine the need for a totally new product. Whether cemeterian or supplier, these articles may remind you of a project you have completed or a product you have to offer that would be just as interesting to our readers! If so, please send us an article for inclusion in a future issue of the Broadcaster. (email to andrea.vittum@choiceonemail.com)
President’s Message
Cemeterians may be able to relax a little after Mother’s Day, Memorial Day, and Father’s Day. For me, the NYSAC Government and Legal Affairs Seminar is the beginning of summer. Joe Dispenza did a great job this year putting together an informative and well-received program.
The Government and Legal Affairs Committee and our Legislative Counsel are active year-round promoting our interests in Albany. The Legal Fund helps to offset the expense of this vital work. If you haven’t yet made a donation, please consider doing so. I’d like to offer my personal thanks to Frank Giglio and the members of this committee and to David Fleming for their efforts on our behalf.
Please mark your calendar for the 76th Annual Conference, September 19-21. Chet Day has a great program planned for us at the beautiful Cranwell Resort in Lenox, MA. Best wishes for a pleasant and relaxing summer. See you in September.
Rick Touchette
President
Celebrating the Living Spirit at Maple Grove
On May 22, 2004 a unique event occurred. Carl Ballenas with students from Immaculate Conception School of Jamaica Estates created a special walking tour that celebrated the lives of the notables interred at Maple Grove. Scripts were written on the information we have been researching on the lives of these people and were memorized by the children. On the day of the event the children came to the cemetery dressed in period costumes and were placed throughout the cemetery near the graves of the people they were portraying. They were seated, holding a framed photograph of the person they were portraying, and ‘came to life’ when a few coins were dropped in the donation basket.
Some of the persons brought to life were Millie Tunnell, the 111 old woman who had served George Washington, Delia Laughlin, The notorious Bluebird of Mulberry Bend (see photo), Jimmy Rushing, the blues singer, Ann Wilkins, a missionary, plus a buccaneer, a magician, a turn of the century clown, various pioneers in the development of the Queens and Brooklyn area, and pioneers in the fields of aviation and radio and many other interesting people. Music was played at the sites of our jazz, rock and roll and blues performers’ sites.
The weather was beautiful, despite the forecast of “thunderstorms” that day. As our guests strolled through our well mapped tour, they were educated about the lives of some very interesting people, beautifully executed by the children. Kudos to these well spoken children and their hard work.
The preparation for this event was fun, including the creation of diverse costumes for each of the children and seeing our scripts come alive. We plan to do another one later in the year with adults.
Article by Nancy Cataldi, President Richmond Hill Historical Society
MCA Holds Annual Seminar and Exposition
T he Metropolitan Cemetery Association held its 2004 Annual Seminar and Exposition on Thursday, June 3 at the Milleridge Inn in Jericho, NY. More than 140 cemetery and supplier members participated in the event.
MCA board members elected for three-year terms were: Jay L. Ivler, Mount Lebanon Cemetery and John P. Toale, Jr., the Woodlawn Cemetery. Elected to a two-year term was Peter Ryan, Catholic Cemeteries Roman Catholic Diocese of Rockville Centre.
MCA officers elected for a two-year term were: Richard J. Moylan, The Green-Wood Cemetery as President; Chester S. Day, The Kensico Cemetery as Vice President; and Philip Tassi, Ferncliff Cemetery as Secretary/Treasurer.
Guest speaker, Angelo Incorvaia, a professional scout for the Dallas Cowboys, former New York Giants football player, and volunteer spokesperson for the Make-a-Wish Foundation, shared his thoughts on the difference between sacrifice and commitment.
Supplier members of the MCA donated gifts for raffles and described their products on display to seminar attendees who visited booths at the outdoor exposition. The $2,500 proceeds from the raffle were donated to the Make-a-Wish Foundation of Greater New York on behalf of the Association.
Cell Tower Pays for Cemetery Development
Cemetery of the Highlands is a beautiful, small country cemetery situated in Orange County, New York.
Interments average between 70 and 75 per year. With little income, increasing deterioration and rising sub-contractor costs, the cemetery was fast approaching desperate times.
Approximately 4 years ago, with cell phone usage and the need for cell tower placement increasing, Sprint Spectrum approached the Town of Woodbury seeking a location for construction of a tower. Numerous Town Board meetings were held and many sites investigated for the building of the monopole. The public was opposed to such a structure visible anywhere in their small community. The Board of Trustees of the Cemetery of the Highlands came to the rescue with a plan that benefited not only the Town of Woodbury and its residents and the cellular industry, but also the cemetery itself.
With approximately 30 undeveloped acres available, it seemed like the perfect location for such a structure. Located in a cemetery, it seemed unlikely that the tower could pose a health risk to any of its residents. Sprint Spectrum was contacted and after many tests were conducted on the proposed site, it appeared to be the perfect solution and location. The only obstacle would be approval from the NYS Cemetery Board.
Being only the second cemetery to approach the Board with such a request, both the Cemetery of the Highlands and the Division of Cemeteries were treading on new ground. Should the income from the cell tower be designated as permanent maintenance for investing purposes, or can some portion be geared toward capital improvement projects so desperately needed in the cemetery?
After submitting a “wish list” and hosting a site visit by the Cemetery Board, the Cemetery was allowed to use the funds for capital improvements for two years. After that time, a review would be conducted and a new disbursement plan would be negotiated.
Presently the cell tower accommodates three co-locaters, with negotiations continuing for two more. As of this date, the Cemetery of the Highlands has been able to repair a two-hundred year old rock wall bordering the front of the cemetery, build a 96-niche Columbarium and Memorial Garden section (to be dedicated in the near future), develop a new trench-pour section and retain the services of a professional cemetery planner for the future expansion of the cemetery.
The response from the community has been overwhelmingly positive and the improvements made due to the installation of the cell tower deeply appreciated by all.
Kensico Cemetery Purchases Hybrid Car
Kensico Cemetery has purchased a 2004 Honda Civic LX Hybrid for use as a security and lot
owner transportation vehicle.
The four-door, five-passenger sedan with automatic transmission is expected to provide significant savings in fuel costs for the cemetery at its 48 mpg rating. Tim Wilson, Assistant Superintendent expects gas consumption to be cut by at least 50% from 2,000 to less thank 1,000 gallons a year, based on annual usage of approximately 35,000 miles.
The Hybrid couples a 1.3 liter, 4-cylinder gasoline engine with a lightweight, electric motor that provides extra power during acceleration. The power train automatically recharges on board batteries during driving. At a complete stop, the engine cuts off automatically to reduce fuel use and emissions.
Anyone interested in receiving first hand information on the performance and maintenance of the Hybrid is welcome to call Tim at 1-888-KENSICO, extension 237.
76th Annual Fall Meeting and Conference
The New York State Association of Cemeteries is proud to invite you to the 76th Annual NYSAC Fall Conference at The Cranwell Resort. In addition to the business of the Annual Meeting, there will be Cemetery Board and legal and government updates regarding our industry. Motivational speakers, Dr. Robert Schachat, Westchester’s own Dr. Phil, and Bill Straubinger will provide insight into consumer, employee and personal trust and relationships.
The Cranwell Resort, Spa & Golf Club is a five star resort located in Lenox, Massachusetts directly off exit 2 of the Massachusetts Turnpike and only 30 minutes southeast of Albany, New York. It is comprised of 380 acres with extraordinary views of the Berkshire Mountains. The property is rich in history dating back to 1853. It served as a private school for boys from the 1930’s to 1975. The resort offers 105 deluxe rooms situated in five buildings. The Association hopes to fill 80 of those rooms, thereby providing us a private resort. In addition to having its own golf course and spa on the property, there are more than 100 activities to do in the vicinity, which include museums, shopping outlets, historic sites and theaters.
Our program will be fun-filled and entertaining, while being educational and inspirational. So don’t forget to mark your calendars to be in the Berkshires for September 19-22, 2004!
Chester S. Day
Conference Chair
27th Annual Pubic Affairs Seminar
MAY 3 & 4, 2004
“Very informative, never a dull moment.”
“Very helpful.”
“As a first timer, I will attend every year to pick up valuable information.”
“It was great to see so many familiar faces
and meet new people.”
These are just a few of the written comments received regarding the 27th Annual Public Affairs Seminar held May 3 and 4 at The Desmond in Albany, New York.
Over 39 cemeteries were represented with more than 90 participants, including cemeterians, suppliers, attorneys, and the New York State Cemetery Board with the Division of Cemeteries Director and Staff.
The success of this annual educational event is due to the talented team of our Executive Director Beth Seme and her staff, as well as our generous sponsors:
BLP Bronze International • Carrier Mausoleums Construction Inc. • Matthews International Corporation Merendino Cemetery Care • Regan Agency, Inc. • The Treiber Group
Thank you all,
Joseph Dispenza - Conference Chair
White Haven Grows Their Own Flowers
White Haven Memorial Park in Pittsford (a suburb of Rochester) began a project a few years ago whereby they built their own greenhouse and started growing their own flowers from seed. The cemetery owns 170 acres, with about 80 acres developed at this time.
Flowers throughout the Park had always been a great expense. Flower upkeep, weeding, feeding and watering used to be the job of the Interment Crew, but always took a back seat when there was a heavy funeral load.
Andrea Vittum, President, worked around this problem by hiring a Director of Horticulture. Gary Burke joined White Haven five years ago, and his responsibility was to keep anything that grew in the park under control. He worked, at first, with a seasonal crew who did all the mowing, shrub trimming, flower planting and weeding.
Gary would have great crews, but each November or December, after the snow started to fall, the seasonals would leave and most would find other jobs. Gary found himself retraining new crews each spring.
Three years ago, he kept Fran Salone, who had been an excellent seasonal worker. Fran became a full-time employee, but Gary had to find something for the two of them to do throughout the winter. They plowed roads and cleared snow from the sidewalks, but it was during some of the “down time” that Gary came up with the idea to build a greenhouse and to grow our own flowers.
He found a florist who was going out of business. They approached the business to see if White Haven could purchase the used greenhouse. It was purchased for $2,000 and the two of them spent the early winter dismantling it and moving it to White Haven.
Gary and Fran worked with Ellen Folts, who is the full-time gardener, during the growing season. The three of them drew up plans for the 40 flower beds throughout the Park and determined how many seeds they would need. (Before we had a separate Grounds and Horticulture staff, there were only 10 flower beds in the Park.)
Flowers germinate at different rates, and the first begonias were planted right after New Years. A few weeks into the experiment, we began to see little bits of green breaking through the soil. By March, the greenhouse was an array of colors- reds, blues, oranges and yellows, as 23 varieties of flowers grew toward maturity.
By May, we had 15,000 flowers ready to plant. Those 15,000 plants came from $367 worth of seeds. In contrast, White Haven used to pay $10,000 or more each year for flowers grown by others.
By setting up an entirely new Department to deal with grass, trees, shrubs and flowers, White Haven has received numerous compliments about the appearance of the cemetery. It also frees up the Interment Crew and allows them to do what they do best. If your cemetery is interested in finding out more about White Haven’s greenhouse, call either Al or Andrea Vittum (585)-586-5250.
Foxwood Memorial Park Begins Cemetery Expansion
Foxwood Memorial Park has begun construction of the fourth phase of its on-going cemetery expansion. The four-acre memorial park is located across from Ogdensburg Cemetery, adjacent to the Route 37 arterial highway and Route 812. The expansion project will add another 340 crypt spaces to the existing 1130 spaces in the present building.
Each phase of the mausoleum design and construction has been contracted by Ingram Construction Company of Madison, Mississippi, which specializes exclusively in mausoleum construction worldwide. The first three building projects were completed in 1983, 1987 and 1995. Phase IV implements another phase in the original architectural design. As in Phase III, the building project will add two extensions to the pre-existing structure. The westward extension will overlook the park’s reflection pond, while the east wing will be adjacent to the park’s cul-de-sac and grove of trees.
In the center of the building is the mausoleum chapel. This amber-hued sanctuary has been a quiet haven for prayer and spiritual reflection. Although committal services and other special services such as the Christmas candlelight service are held in the mausoleum chapel, it is also a private sanctuary for families or individuals, regardless of faith. Completing the initial architectural design of the chapel, a carillon tower and steeple will be added in this phase of construction. The mausoleum extensions, both east and west, and the chapel tower will be faced with local fieldstone quarried in Ogdensburg.
Phase IV plans include some practical measures for convenience, including handicapped-accessible restrooms. Already completed are a mausoleum office and an adjunct heating system for the east wing, along with an additional maintenance room. The eastward expansion will accommodate a future niche room for cremated remains, designed with marble and reflective glass. Richard C. Fox, Foxwood president, asserted that the three hundred forty indoor crypts are part of the west wing design “in order to keep up with the demand for protected interior mausoleum space as desired particularly in the north country climate.”
The 2003-04 construction plans will pay tribute to area veterans. As part of the westward expansion, the window-banked exterior walls and ceiling skylights will illuminate Foxwood’s Hall of Flags. All branches of the United States Armed Services (including Air Force, Army, Canadian forces, Coast Guard, Marine Corps, Merchant Marine and Navy) are commemorated in this unique, flag-draped hall. A life-sized bronze statue of a small boy cradling a triangular-folded American flag will be on permanent display in Foxwood’s Hall of Flags.
Foxwood Mausoleum and Memorial Park has an on-going perpetual care program. This program includes lawn and garden upkeep, introducing new flowers, trees and shrubs, and adding new features such as a cascading fountain in the park reflection pond and rainbow-colored pond lights. The Phase IV Park Plan also includes a 30' flagpole to display the American flag. The flagpole base is five-sided, the shape of a pentagon. There are 5 brick walkways leading from the cul-de-sac driveway to this flagpole base where veterans’ memorial plaques will be displayed.
Featured between the spokes or brick walkways are annual and perennial flowering plants arranged among landscaping rocks, all designed to create a beautiful and respectful setting. The outdoor veterans area is located in the center of the cul-de-sac facing a grove of trees.
Overlooking the reflection pond there will be a westward extension. The Hearthstone area is a part of the design for Phase IV. This room is so-named because of the marble encased faux fireplace, built to exude the “warmth” (albeit artificial) of cozy firelight on a cold, winter’s day. The Hearthstone area will be decorated with comfort in mind. Upholstered furniture pieces and soft lamplight will give the room an ambience that will relax mausoleum visitors. It is yet another area in the ever-enlarging mausoleum building where visitors can sit, away from other people or surrounded by loved ones, as desired.
Through each building phase, with the special demands of the North Country and the needs and desires of its people in mind, Foxwood Mausoleum and Memorial Park has truly developed a unique environment for remembering the dead. “I believe that we have created at Foxwood a welcoming building and a lovely park-like setting that is a permanent tribute to all who are interred within,” Fox concluded.
Government and Legal Affairs Update
The 2004 legislative session continues to be an active one for the New York State Association of Cemeteries. The Committee, along with our legislative counsel, Featherstonhaugh, Wiley, Clyne & Cordo, LLP, have been monitoring over 70 death care related bills and 21 pesticide bills that have been introduced this session.
A.7346-B,Tokasz/S.3418-A,Marchi. This bill would permit the Modified Return concept to be used on Permanent Maintenance and Perpetual Care funds. This bill has been amended and referred to Corporations on 1/21/04 in the Assembly and was amended and referred to Corporations on 1/16/04 in the Senate. We are hoping to get the bill to the floor in the Assembly for a vote.
A.8569-Brodsky/S.4809-Leibell. This bill would enact provisions relating to voting rights of record lot owners at annual meetings of a cemetery corporation.
S.4836-A-Leibell. This bill provides additional protection against financial fraud and abuse.
A.8568-Brodsky/S.5041-Leibell. This bill would regulate possible conflict of interest situations between officers and directors and the not-for-profit corporations they represent.
A.9461-Gunther. Relates to the exemption from taxation for non-profit organizations; repealer.
The following regulation is being monitored:
Sale of Vaults. The Cemetery Board has sent new regulations to GORR(Governor’s Office of Regulatory Reform) for there approval. We are optimistic.
The Anti-Combination Law Suit decision handed down by Senior U.S. District Judge Howard G. Munson, went against the Association. We are in the process of appealing that decision.
You can track all legislation on the NYSAC website (www.nysac.com) under “Members Only”.
Frank F. Giglio, Chairman
New Cemetery Planned for Albany Catholic Diocese
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany has purchased a 100-acre parcel in Malta, Saratoga County, to be developed as a parish site. The site will include a parish church, a cemetery, and may, in the future, include other church related facilities such as a school or a senior housing facility. The parish has been named “Blessed John XXIII”.
A master plan for the property has been submitted to the Town of Malta for a Planned Development District. Phase one of the cemetery development will commence upon Town approval, and the parish church will be constructed in 5-10 years. Other uses are not anticipated for perhaps twenty-five years.
Jack C. Goodnoe, of Cemetery Planning and Design, Ann Arbor, Michigan, has worked closely with Diocesan officials to develop the conceptual plans for the property.
Phase one of the cemetery will feature shrine graves, monument lots, a columbarium and urn garden, as well as family heritage lots for private mausoleums or family estates.
The Secret City: Woodlawn Cemetery and the Buried History of New York
At the very end of the New York subway sits Woodlawn, the historic 400 acre Bronx cemetery that is the last stop for over 300,000 New Yorkers. A place of startling serenity and architectural distinction as well as cultural and historic significance, it is — like so many historic cemeteries — unknown to the majority of its city’s inhabitants. In the case of Woodlawn that’s particularly irksome, since it is the final resting place for such well-known New Yorkers as Herman Melville, Miles Davis, Fiorello LaGuardia, Duke Ellington, Robert Moses, Irving Berlin, George M. Cohan and Joseph Pulitzer as well as Gilded Age grandees Jay Gould, Collis Huntington and John Harbeck and retailers F.W. Woolworth, J.C. Penney, Frederick Constable and the Straus family, builders of both Abraham & Straus and R.H. Macy & Co.
Though born in the Bronx, writer Fred Goodman was, like so many New Yorkers, unaware of Woodlawn until he stumbled upon the cemetery while bicycling through the borough. THE SECRET CITY is the product of his subsequent and obsessive researches into the lives of many of the once famed and now forgotten men and women buried there. Featuring nine dramatic episodes, chronologically arranged, each story presents an exceptional individual caught up in a defining historical moment in New York’s social, political, commercial, or artistic life. Readers meet phrenologist and publisher Orson Fowler, SPCA founder Henry Bergh, Gilded Age railroad magnate Austin Corbin, political satirist Finley Peter Dunne, “Boy Mayor” John Purroy Mitchel, attorney Francis Garvan, sculptor Attilio Piccirilli, Harlem Renaissance poet Countee Cullen, leftist East Harlem Congressman Vito Marcantonio, and pioneering aviatrix Ruth Nichols.
Framing and tying together these novelistic tales is the first-person narrative of the author’s discovery of Woodlawn and his research into the lives of some of the city’s all-too-quickly-forgotten inhabitants. It is, ultimately, an act of resurrection: a way of putting flesh on the anonymous dead, and using the historic cemetery to humanize and demystify a city whose fabulous history is, too often, interred with its inhabitants. (BROADWAY BOOKS)
by Fred Goodman
Matthews Introduces New Religious Feature
The Passion Prayer is the newest addition to Matthews’ collection of cast bronze feature plaques. There are two different designs – one on a 36” x 24” plaque and the other on a 24” x 36” plaque. Each design includes finely-detailed, bas-relief images of the Crucifixion. The text of the Passion Prayer is cast in its entirety on each plaque. It states:
God, our Father, You allowed Your Son to be beaten, bruised, humiliated and killed, Help us always to be thankful for what Jesus did for us so we can one day be with Him in heavenly paradise. Please send us Your Spirit – Your guide and instrument of peace, so that we may have the courage, strength and perseverance to follow Jesus from the agony in the Garden to victory of the Resurrection. We ask this in our Savior’s name, Jesus, the Christ. Amen.
For more information about the Passion Prayer feature plaque or Matthews’ complete collection of statuary and bronze features, please contact your Customer Satisfaction Representative at 888-838-8890.
Regional Maintenance Seminars
The New York State Association of Cemeteries (NYSAC) is attempting to revive its annual cemetery maintenance seminar along a revised, regionalized format in cooperation with the New York State Turfgrass Association (NYSTA) regional conferences conducted one day each year in the late winter and early spring in the southeastern, western and northern sections of the state.
A NYSTA official has given preliminary approval to the creation of a cemetery maintenance breakout session to be conducted concurrently with the NYSTA sessions and has also approved the inclusion of non-turf maintenance issues in the program. Cemeterians would be able to choose the combination of those NYSTA and NYSAC program offerings that best suit them. Additionally, although NYSTA may have to approve the concept (if a sufficient but limited number of cemetery superintendents and managers are interested in attending), a roundtable style discussion of issues of concern or interest to those attending may be offered.
This new regional format will be attempted, on a trial basis, at the next NYSTA Southeast Regional Conference to be held at the Tarrytown Hilton on February 28, 2005. If successful, the format can be applied to the western and northern regions of the state where the other NYSTA regional conferences are held. To gauge the level of interest in the concept, a survey questionnaire was forwarded to all NYSAC cemeteries located in the five New York City boroughs and Nassau, Suffolk, Westchester, Putnam, Dutchess, Columbia, Rockland, Orange and Sullivan counties. If your cemetery is located in one of those counties but did not receive a survey form, you can contact the NYSAC offices at (518) 783-1134 or NYSAC@NYSAC.com to request that a questionnaire be forwarded. Those cemeteries that did receive the survey but have not yet responded may still do so.
By Kevin Boyd, Conference Chair
Maple Grove Dedicates Unique 9/11 Monument
Sept. 11, 2001…. News raced throughout the globe like a bolt of lightening with its electrifying branches spreading the horrific news to every city in the world. New York City…., Washington D.C….. and Shanksburg, PA., with NYC feeling the brunt.
Maple Grove Cemetery, along with cemeteries throughout the nation and world, began the sad task of interring the remains of these victims. As the second anniversary of this tragedy approached, Maple Grove was in the process of deciding how to best memorialize these victims. We now had 20 interments due to 9/11, four of which were New York City Firefighters. Our President, Linda Mayo-Perez, along with her staff, threw their minds and hearts into this project. The site was chosen: “The Presidential Circle”, which is the highest point in the cemetery, as well as where the flag is flown. Two stone benches were made and each would bear ten solar-powered, plexi-glass stars, one for each of our victims. Their names are engraved in the stone benches as well as in the back of each star.
On Sept. 25, 2003, the families gathered at “The Presidential Circle” for the Memorial Garden Dedication and Starlight Ceremony. The flag was donated to Maple Grove from Congressman Gregory W. Meeks. As Ms. Mayo-Perez called the names of the deceased, their family members placed their loved one’s “Star” on the bench and lit a candle. Father McCarron from the Church of the Resurrection led us in prayer and gave a short homily. Ms. Mayo-Perez shared her thoughts and prayers with all gathered and met each family individually. We needed one thing to tie this all together, so we reached back to the Navajo Indians and found what we needed in the legend of “The Sun, Moon and Stars”. A large boulder was delivered to the cemetery and engraved with a replica of the Twin Towers along with this partial excerpt from that Navajo legend….. “The laws that govern mankind cannot be written on the water as that is always changing, nor can they be written in sand as the wind will erase them, but if they are written in the stars, they can be read and remembered forever”……… may they rest in peace.
By Lorraine Bucalo, Maple Grove Cemetery
The "Father of Baseball: Gets Base Paths at His Green-Wood Monument
No man did more to popularize baseball, America’s Pastime, than Henry Chadwick (1824-1908). A British-born newspaperman, Chadwick immigrated to America as a youth and made Brooklyn his home. In 1847, at Elysian Fields in New Jersey, he played his first baseball game, inspiring him to dedicate the rest of his life to the promotion of the sport. Chadwick was convinced that the relatively quick pace of baseball was just right for Americans: “What they do, they want to do in a hurry.” He persuaded The New York Times and other dailies that baseball was news fit to print, and became the country’s first baseball editor, working at the New York Clipper and then the Brooklyn Eagle for the next half-century.
Chadwick assigned numbers to each of the positions in the field to create the baseball scoring system that is still in use today and introduced the newspaper box score, a statistical summary by which the performance of players could be compared. He coined many of baseball’s most-enduring phrases, including “assist,” “base hit,” “base on balls,” “cut off,” “double play,” “error,” “goose egg,” and “single.” He also edited and published baseball guides and yearbooks and supervised the annual game, at Brooklyn’s Capitoline Grounds, where rules changes were demonstrated. Chadwick firmly believed that baseball should remain a sport of gentlemen characterized by clean and honest play. He feared that, unless care was taken, greed would take over the game he loved.
On opening day of the 1908 baseball season, though suffering from a fever, Chadwick attended the Giants game at the Polo Grounds. Pneumonia set in, and on April 20, 1908, Chadwick lay unconscious in his bed. When he regained consciousness, he asked which team had won the game that day between his beloved Brooklyn team and the New York Giants. Told that the Giants had won, Chadwick expressed his regrets and lapsed into an unconsciousness from which he never emerged.
In 1904, President Theodore Roosevelt dubbed Chadwick the “Father of Baseball” and in 1938, he was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. His plaque at Cooperstown reads, “Baseball’s preeminent pioneer, writer for half a century, inventor of the box score, author of the first rule-book in 1858, chairman of rules committee in first nationwide baseball organization.”
Henry Chadwick’s monument at Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn was paid for by contributions to a committee chaired by another great Brooklyn baseball man, Charles Ebbets. The lot was purchased for Chadwick by sporting goods magnate Albert G. Spalding; concessionaire Harry M. Stevens contributed $100 to get the fund-raising going. The monument cost $600 (equal to about $10,000 today) to erect, and its dedication, originally scheduled for the first anniversary of Chadwick’s death, was, in baseball parlance, rained out. Chadwick’s monument is now a part of Green-Wood’s pioneering Saved in Time program, in which twenty-one monuments have been selected for preservation. As the first step in the work on this monument, the four corner markers of this lot, marked for almost a century by granite stones carved to look like bases, have been joined by newly-installed base paths. Attached to the central monument are bronze versions of a catcher’s mask, a baseball glove, and crossed-bats. The monument is topped by a granite sphere carved with laces to look like a baseball. Appropriately, the plaque memorializing Chadwick is in the shape of a baseball diamond; after all, it was Chadwick who coined that phrase to refer to the shape of a baseball infield. Restoration of the entire monument will be completed this summer with funds raised from avid baseball fans.
Late Breaking News
As this issue of The Broadcaster was being put together, word was received on June 22 that two bills that we have been following passed the Assembly and are on their way to the Governor to be signed.
The Modified Return Bill (Tokaz A7346) finally got passed after years of trying. Also, A9740 authorizes a cemetery to bury a person in a plot owned by a membership, religious corporation, or other entity if certain requirements are met. The Association supported both of these bills.
The Governor has 30 days to sign the bills. Frank Giglio believes that there should not be any objection from the Executive Branch, and if both bills are signed, you will be able to learn all about them at the Fall Conference.
Thanks to David Fleming for all the work that he has put in on these bills, as well as the others that we are following.