Seasons Greetings to All
From the Eugene Masonic Cemetery
Neighborhood Caroling

What a surprise to wake on Christmas morning to find an article in the Eugene Register-Guard about a carol singing tradition going back 30 years.

The Masonic Cemetery has published a book called "Full of Life". A cemetery is more than a repository for those who have passed on; it's a place for the living to celebrate them. So why not share some of the "joy of living" in a cemetery setting, especially in one as beautiful as the Masonic Cemetery. Here's the article: Caroling at the Cemetery

EMCA Receives Generous Grants
With the support of grants from both the Masonic Center Eugene Lodge # 11 AF & FM, and the John and Jane Youell Fund of the Oregon Community Foundation, the EMCA will be able to embark on a development project to help support our future income needs.  At the existing Scatter Garden we will erect a memorial wall, approximately six feet high and three feet wide, to accommodate the installation of bronze memorial plaques. (Artist's depiction shown.) Our existing wall is running out of space. 
We also plan to develop a new scatter garden in the northwest portion of the cemetery. The new garden will also have a memorial wall, space for a second future wall, a memorial bench, a connecting path and new plantings. These together will add to our capacity to provide additional scatter rights and memorial plaques.
In addition, we plan to do some additional grading work at the entrance gate and to provide that area with new, enriching plantings and tombstone restoration work to make the cemetery a more inviting place to visit.
One important component of cemetery operations is monument maintenance, one aspect of which will be made easier by a grant from the Lane County Cultural Coalition, a subset of the Oregon Cultural Trust.

Common to both marble and granite monuments, as well as to some other less common substances such as zinc, is the need to occasionally lift them off the ground, either to reset them square on their foundation or to make a repair to the monument itself. Smaller stones can be maneuvered by hand, while larger ones require the services of professionals with powered winches and truck mounted cranes. 
In between these two sizes are monuments
too big to handle by person power, but not big enough to justify calling a pro.  Many cemeteries around the world deal with this  problem by using a portable lifting device. This grant will fund a portable lifting crane in the form of a tall metal tripod from which will be suspended a chain hoist. Nylon straps will be used to attach to the monument for lifting purposes.

This approach will allow trained cemetery volunteers to do needed work on certain monuments that before would have required professional help.
  Tree Hazard With Wind and Snow Storms
As anyone who has been to the Masonic Cemetery knows, the grounds are heavily treed with mature Douglas Fir, Ponderosa Pine and others. As time passes, branches will sometimes break and fall, creating a hazard below. We use the services of professional tree care specialists to trim and remove them.

Occasionally, however, wind storms and/or snow fall will cause an otherwise healthy looking branch to fall, or sometimes simply break, but not fall. We refer to the latter as hangers. 
If such a branch is spotted, we will cordon off the hazard area and call a tree specialist to remove it.

But we can't spot all the hazards all the time, so it's especially important to be alert during wind storms or during (and after) a snow fall. As a matter of fact, if there is a significant wind blowing, it's best not to even go into the cemetery, or any other area with many trees. We want visitors to enjoy the beauty of the Masonic Cemetery, but we want even more for those visitors to be safe. Use common sense.