Westerlo cemetery association gains badly needed help

WESTERLO — Every April, the trustees of the Westerlo Rural Cemetery Association, and others like it, clean the property that holds their ancestors and right the stones moved by winter.

For the past several years, though, one man, Richard Stark, has been doing the work mainly with his own sweat, and that of the man who cuts the grass. At 70, he decided to call a meeting for March 31, concerned he may have to close the corporation of which he has been a member since 1975.

“I guess I’m the last one standing,” Stark said of the trustees Wednesday. “The rest of them died off and there aren’t any more volunteers at the moment. So I’ve come to the point where my age is starting to limit me.”

Three people in their 40s and 50s stepped up to be trustees at the meeting taht 14 people attended last Tuesday, Stark said. At any other meeting, Stark has seen only two or three other people. He said another meeting this month will solicit even more volunteers, though a date hasn’t been set.

The Westerlo Rural Cemetery is situated along Route 143 just north of the hamlet of Westerlo.

The association’s biggest expense is mowing, Stark said. The total expenses run between $6,000 and $7,000 each year, according to Stark, and revenue comes from mutual funds and selling plots for graves.

More Hilltowns News

  • Berne’s election this year will be reformative, since every town board seat is up for grabs along with other high-profile positions like town clerk and highway superintendent. 

  • The Knox candidates are in, with town Clerk Traci Delaney (formerly Schanz) running for town supervisor on the Republican line, and former Berne-Knox-Westerlo Board of Education member Chasity McGivern challenging her on the Democratic line. 

  • Berne Councilwoman Melanie laCour voiced her concerns at the board’s May meeting about the fact that the town’s ambulance expense was left out of the 2025 budget, making it unclear how the town will pay for a $225,000 expense at the end of the year when all revenue is already attached to other expenses and there’s little left in savings. 

The Altamont Enterprise is focused on hyper-local, high-quality journalism. We produce free election guides, curate readers' opinion pieces, and engage with important local issues. Subscriptions open full access to our work and make it possible.