Graceland Cemetery is back to the condition we were before the severe vandalism of 120 monuments on Nov. 12, thanks mainly to Star Granite (Ron Vogel and Desmond Brenke) and Albert Lea Monument (Blane, Mark and Lori Maher).  Both monument firms volunteered to reset all the monuments that were tipped over and or damaged at no cost. I don’t think we could have completed this without their indispensable help, and for this we are very appreciative and grateful.

Special thanks to Bob (Cob) Knutson and Jerry Witter, who took it upon themselves to clean all the surfaces between the monument layers and bases so we could reset the monuments. It took them the better part of two days. It made the re-setting go smoothly.

Thank you to Albert Lea Electric’s Cal Johnson who replaced the broken spotlight case and bulb that shines on the veteran’s monument and flag all by himself before we even had a chance to figure out what to do about it.

Thank you to the crew that helped seal and re-set the monuments on a cold Sunday morning: Gary Nyquist, Dan Clausen, Mark Sorenson (his family’s stone was tipped over), Bonnie Wedge, Cob Knutson, along with board members Dave Kelly, Glen Juveland and Tom Ehrhardt).  Thanks also to John Fure for helping search and mark all of the damaged monuments.

A big thanks to Doc Bohlman for setting up the GoFundMe account (he is not even from Albert Lea). As of today GoFundMe has raised over $3,000. Thank you to all the GoFundMe donators and all of you who donated money directly to Graceland Cemetery.

Three monuments were damaged severely. The “Burns family” Celtic cross monument (today’s cost would be about $7,000) was broken in half. Two others were also broken in half: One so old we could not read the name, and the other was for “Roberts” who died in 1888. We are researching these so we can contact the family. One monument was broken slightly at the base, and a few others were slightly chipped or scratched.  Altogether we were very lucky that the severe damage was so limited.

A big thank you to everyone who was horrified by the damage, those who drove out to check their family monument and/or the damage, those who expressed their concern and outrage. And thanks to the Albert Lea Tribune, KAAL TV and KIMT TV for their coverage. It really helped to get the news out. And finally thank you to the police for their efforts to find the people who did the damage. We hope they succeed.

It is comforting to have such community support. Thank you, Albert Lea.

Brad Wedge

president

Graceland Cemetery Board