Local History Portrayed During Oakwood Cemetery’s Heritage Walk

Those being portrayed during Oakwood Cemetery’s Heritage Walk June 27 were announced during the Oakwood Cemetery Board of Regents meeting Thursday.
Virgil and Blanche Brock will be played by Glenn Hall and Leanne Scacco; Col. Joseph B. Dodge will be played by Gerald Cox; Don and Sally Nichols will be played by Eddie Hartman and Lacey Brown; Ralph Lichtenwalter will be played by Dave Baumgardner; Pete and Faye Thorn will be played by Symin Dawson and Lily Fournier; George Lenke will be played by Gordon Petty; Arlene Koors will be played by Kathryn Anders; Hobart Creighton will be played by Cindy Nash; John C. Peterson will be played by Hannah Carter; Harold and Betty Kratzsch will be played by Craig Knight and Tara Rusinack; and Thoma Everett will be played by Emily Gough.
Sexton Hal Heagy also showed board members a map of stations of where the actors will portray those in the cemetery. He said tours will start at the cemetery chapel, go straight up Central and come back and visit other stations on Prairie, Maple, Word and Legion avenues. Not all of the people being portrayed are buried in the areas they’re portrayed in, though, as they had to make the route a little faster to go through.
The actors will have their first rehearsal at the chapel next Saturday, he said. He thinks everything with the walk is moving forward and they’re just finalizing some stuff.
During the walk, people do not have register, but it is requested they check in so the tour groups can be controlled a little as far as timing. There is no cost to attend the walk.
There will be two donation boxes to go toward the Kosciusko County Historical Society and a local actors guild.
Heagy also talked about what was going to happen in the chapel during the walk. To him, he said every veteran should be honored. There are 3,000 to 4,000 veterans laid to rest in the cemetery and not all of them can be portrayed in one walk, “but I want to honor them.”
There will be someone from the historical society that is going to be bringing in items such as old uniforms to be displayed during the walk. Heagy said the cemetery is going to do a veterans wall, where people can bring something up where they can pin something on the wall, such as a photo of a loved one. There will also be tables in the chapel where people can display items.
“So we want the public to be able to walk in and see some people in there and see some stuff from memorabilia from the wars, that is what we’re aiming at so we can kind of honor everybody,” Heagy said.
The cemetery is trying to honor as many people as possible in some way so no one is left out.
In other business, the board heard:
• Reseeding of grass in some areas at Warsaw-Wayne Township fire station 15 will be done soon.
• Work is being done in part of the Parson Farm area. Pavement of roads probably won’t be done until the fall and the section probably won’t be open until next year.
• The chain-link fence has been removed from the lake road.
• The vegetable and fruit garden has been planted.