2003 Year in Review

Cemetery Walk is Set for September 28

If you are looking for a unique, dramatic experience at an outdoor venue this fall, consider Morrison’s Grove Hill Cemetery. Yessiree, you read that right! The second Morrison Historical Society cemetery walk is scheduled for Sunday, September 28 from 1:30 to 3:30.

This event is called “Stroll Into the Past.” It features costumed interpretations of former, local residents using first-person sketches. Historic tombstones, monuments, or family plots act as the backdrop. Joe Nobiling, Moline, will add ambiance with his fiddle music, because, well, he’s good, and one of the characters was a violin maker.

Area actors will portray nine “residents” of Grove Hill Cemetery; perhaps one is an ancestor or yours. Sarah Thorndike is Anna Sholes (genealogist); Brian Zschiesche is William Van Osdol (farmer); Craig Doak is Roswell Goodenough (carriage & violin maker); Kevin Perrizo is Thomas King (butter & egg dealer); Josie Johnson is Lydia Hulett (midwife & practitioner of home remedies); Bill Mosgrove is Walter Stowell (Black Hawk War veteran) and Jalayne Riewerts is his Caregiver; Don Miller is Charles Bent, Sr. (newspaper editor); Connie Swanson-DeSpain is Lucinda Booth (devoted mother); Rev. Daniel Swinson is William Spears (dry goods merchant.)

Riewerts also serves as director for a second year. Thorndike, Doak, Johnson, and Miller return as actors.

Gallery on Main in Morrison began selling event tickets September 2; you can purchase them through Saturday, September 27. Tickets will be available at Grove Hill Cemetery, High Street, beginning at 1:00 on September 28 near the American Legion-VFW shelter. The donation for this fund-raiser is again $3.

There are only 18 tickets available for each ten-minute time slot, so audiences will be small enough to hear the actors. Don’t fret, there are 243 tickets available! Bring a friend or family member.

It is important that visitors are on time to start their tour. Each ticket has a specific departure time, beginning at 1:30, and groups leave the tent area every 10 minutes. The last group begins the circuit at 3:30. Tours last about one hour and end near the refreshment area.

Frank Vavra will announce the time for each group to assemble and collect the appropriate tickets. Guides from Morrison High School’s National Honor Society and Key Club will take each group of guests to the graves.

You will have the opportunity to see, up close, the progress being made on the veteran’s memorial, as you walk to the collection of sandstone “trees” that decorate the Sholes family plot. This is the first stop on the tour.

Morrison Historical Society will provide a couple of golf carts for those unable to walk the "course." Although we anticipate beautiful weather, there is a back-up plan in case of rain. We will hold the performances in the gymnasium of North Side School.

Jane VanZuiden’s storyboards will again feature additional facts and photographs about the historical figures. You can purchase a booklet of the nine scripts for $2 to read after the cemetery walk or share with a friend. For more information, contact Stephanie Vavra at 772-3144.

by Stephanie A. Vavra, Guest Columnist
September 2, 2003