State weighs in on effort to preserve Catholic cemetery

A southern Whitley County Catholic Church got much-needed money Sunday to begin improvements and repairs on a historic cemetery.
Eighty-second District State Representative Charlie Siler (R-Williamsburg) presented a $10,000 check to members of Saint Boniface Catholic Church in Jellico for the effort. The money was part of a matching grant from the Governor’s Office of Local Development.
“This is a significant area to me,” Siler said. “When I started school … our home was up in this hollow. I went to first and second grade here before my family moved to Pleasant View.”
The church, which consists of about 22 area families, matched the grant with $10,000 of its own.
Sister Margie Verhoff, with the Sisters of Divine Providence, said the church has gone a long way toward basic cleanup and records maintenance of the cemetery, but shifting grave markers, erosion and property questions with neighbors need to be addressed.
“The cemetery became a priority with our former Pastoral Director. They worked at getting things in good shape and the records in good shape, but they noticed there was an area washing away and a number of the stones leaning or slipping,” Verhoff said. “We needed some kind of help to make sure they are strong and will continue to last for the next 100 or so years or more.”
Saint Boniface was founded in 1886 to serve the spiritual needs of many Irish, German and Italian immigrants who lived in area mining villages. The cemetery lot was purchased in 1887 and contains many members of the founding families and relatives of attendees today.
Sunday was All Saints Day at the Church – a tradition brought over by Italian immigrants and honored to this day by the church. Many families return to visit the graves of relatives.
“When Saint Boniface was founded, there was no Catholic Church in the whole Southeastern Kentucky area. This was the first Catholic parish here,” Verhoff said. “There’s quite a heritage in this church and cemetery.”
Jellico Mayor John Clifton said Saint Boniface church has always been an important part of the community. The old church was considered a historical “treasure” before it was burned by arsonists in 1993.
“It was a beautiful facility … just beautiful,” he said. “The furniture in it was hand crafted by Italian and German and Irish immigrants. It was just a real source of pride for our town.”
The new church was completed in 1996. Clifton said Saint Boniface and its cemetery is an important place to many Jellico residents.
Some of the money will be used to replace a rusted fence that surround the cemetery. Another portion will be used for a land survey to determine if all the graves are squarely within the boundaries of the land owned by the church.
Verhoff said Saint Boniface has been in negotiations with landowners adjacent to the church to solve property ownership questions.
“This grant will be our first major seed money to help begin the work we need to do to the cemetery,” Verhoff said. “We could easily use $50,000. This is a good beginning.”