Eugene Masonic Cemetery Association eNewsletter
Hope Abbey Mausoleum
 

In This Issue
EMCA is hiring
Music To Die For
Marble Restoration
Did You Know?
The Eugene Masonic Cemetery attracts walkers, school groups, people interested in history and people who are impressed with the landscape's many native plants.
 
A wide variety of birds, including owls, woodpeckers, hawks, flickers and wrens attract birders. The cemetery's plants and insects and small mammals provide the necessary food for these resident and visitor birds, and the wide variety of trees provide places for them to nest.  

HELP US CONTINUE RESTORING HISTORY

Consider making a contribution through PayPal, available on our website. When you click below, you'll be taken to the EMCA website, where you can access the PayPal donate button. Help us preserve this important part of Eugene's history. Thank you. 

 

 
EMCA is hiring
The Eugene Masonic Cemetery is looking to hire a Groundskeeper for a part time, permanent position. The person filling this position assists in the preservation and maintenance of the cemetery's 10½ acres. For more information, please click here.
Music To Die For

ESYO Ambassador String Quartet  
September 24th at 2 PM
Hope Abbey, Eugene Masonic Cemetery 
 
You're invited to hear a wonderful group of young musicians at the next Music To Die For. The Ambassadors are advanced students who mentor beginners and play in smaller groups at community events through the ESYO Ambassador Musician Program.
 
The Quartet members are: Julia Daniels, violin, Mira Cross, violin, Bryan Williams, viola, and Anthony Clemons, cello 
 
The Eugene-Springfield Youth Orchestras (ESYO) has been keeping youth music alive in our community since 1934. Representing over 40 different schools in our area, ESYO programs provide a unique opportunity for aspiring young musicians from 4th to 12th grade to make beautiful music together. The Eugene-Springfield Youth Symphony boasts more than 60 of the area's finest young musicians and is the second oldest youth orchestra west of the Mississippi!  
 
For more information about this amazing organization, please click  
here. 
 
Park on Potter or at the cemetery entrance at E 25th and University. Gates open  1pm for those who need assistance getting to the Abbey. Great acoustics. Arrive early to get a seat, as this is a free concert. 

Marble Restoration
By Crystal Persi, Board President
 
The first time I visited Hope Abbey I was amazed at its beauty, but I couldn't help noticing that there were white foam boards covering many of the crypt and niche openings. My tour guide, Denny Hellesvig, told me that several years earlier his wife had cut those pieces to cover the concrete plugs where marble shutters-the slabs engraved with names and dates-were missing. I found myself wanting to figure out how to restore the marble to the way it was originally intended to be. Every crypt and niche should be shuttered appropriately with the beautiful white marble with grey veining.
 
Almost four years later now, phase one of the marble restoration project is complete, with marble throughout and no more white foam board. Thanks to a generous $20,000 gift from Eugene Masonic Lodge No.11 A.F. and A.M., we were able to purchase enough marble to fill in all the missing shutters and missing ledge pieces.
 
The first step of this project was to rehone some of the existing shutters that had been damaged. These shutters were removed, taken to O. M. Stone in Hillsboro, rehoned in their shop, and then reinstalled a few weeks later. This was an immediate improvement, but only step one.
 
Simultaneously, we set O. M. Stone on the task of finding a source of matching marble. The original marble was from a quarry in Alaska that closed in the 40's. I was amazed at the match that the experts from the contractor were able to find at a Chinese quarry.  Digital photos were used to compare the color and veining, which was determined to be a near perfect match. We placed a large order of precut pieces that would be fine fitted as the shutters were being installed. The marble was loaded onto a ship (literally a slow boat from China), and arrived in Oregon the first of June. I could hardly wait until the installation began. It took two and a half days to cut and install every missing shutter and ledge piece. My wish (and those of many others) had come true, every crypt and niche had a proper marble shutter with white and grey veining. As the new marble ages, you won't be able to tell what is new and what is original.
 
Along the way I had to make a tough budgetary decision regarding where to end phase one and plan for phase two, which would fix any aesthetic issues such as poorly repaired/patched shutters or mismatched ledges. Luckily, we were able to purchase extra marble for phase two and are storing it in the mausoleum until we are able to raise the money to pay for the labor required to make these aesthetic improvements. O. M. Stone is ready to return to help with our next step once we are ready.
 
If you haven't visited Hope Abbey recently, please come by to see it during last-Sunday-of-the-month open hours. We have more work to do, but the new marble is gorgeous! Add to that the newly refinished floor, a project that was covered in last month's eNewsletter, and we're getting closer to bringing Hope Abbey back to its original splendor.

Sincerely,
John Bredesen
eNewsletter Editor