There were many smiles and a few tears on the face of 88-year-old veteran Larry Boyd as he watched student volunteers from Elphinstone Secondary School tend to the forgotten graves of veterans buried in Seaview Cemetery.
"This is just a wonderful turnout. It's just great," Boyd said when he saw 17 high school students arrive at the cemetery on Nov. 5 with rakes, shovels, brushes and brooms in hand.
He had pitched the idea of a clean up to his 17-year-old granddaughter Morgan VanDiessen, who enlisted the help of a few friends at Elphinstone. Then teacher Sarah Mani's leadership class heard about the effort, and they signed up to help, too.
Many of the veterans' graves in a special section of the cemetery close to the cenotaph had become overgrown with moss, and some headstones were barely legible. On Tuesday, students scrubbed headstones, scraped moss, pulled weeds and raked leaves, ultimately cleaning up all the gravesites in the special veterans' area.
Loved ones are tasked with upkeep of burial sites, but many of the departed veterans were buried in the 1940s and no longer have loved ones locally to tend to their graves.
"A lot of the graves have been forgotten about, which is really quite sad," said Geri Gelineau, who is charged with overseeing the cemetery for the Sunshine Coast Regional District (SCRD).
She said staff can't take care of the veterans' graves because there isn't enough money in the budget, adding she was delighted to hear about the proposed clean up by Boyd and the teens.
"It's wonderful to have the kids come in and give back to the community in this way. It's a win-win for everyone. What a great way to celebrate Remembrance Day and honour our veterans," she said.
Boyd came up with the idea after touring gravesites of veterans in other parts of the world and seeing their spotless upkeep.
"In Holland a lot of them are kept up by the children in remembrance, and they are just immaculate," Boyd said.
He thought it would be a good idea to get students involved in the effort locally, and he was delighted at the response by the students and the willingness of the SCRD to allow the clean up.
Sophie Garmulewicz, a Grade 12 student, said she wanted to help because "it's a really good thing to do."
"I feel like they can get neglected out here, and it grows over really fast, so I think it's really great to come and help clean it up," she said.
Grade 11 student Sage Hubbard also felt it was important to volunteer."I never really thought of doing it before, but it's a good thing that needs to be done, because who else is going to clean it up," she said, noting it was a way to pay respect to those who had fought for her freedom.
"It's a way to kind of make them shine again," Garmulewicz added.
Boyd hopes to make the clean up an annual affair, and the Elphinstone leadership class has already pledged their help again in 2014.
Gelineau said she would coordinate next year's clean up. She is also looking for a group to take on refurbishment of the cenotaph at Seaview Cemetery.
To find out more or to offer your help, contact Gelineau at [email protected].
