On Memorial Day, when people come to the Noel Cemetery, it will be looking good, thanks to the efforts of one man, Jason Messley, sexton for the Noel Cemetery. He has been keeping up the grounds for several years.
Messley lives in Noel and owns land on both sides of the cemetery. He said the former sexton was getting older and approached him to see if he would be willing to help and eventually take the job over. He said the job takes patience. He mows 10 to 15 times a year, picks up flowers after Memorial Day, marks graves, helps people when there is a burial and sets up for a backhoe to be brought in and dig the graves.
"We have maybe 10 burials there a year. In the summer, you're really busy. In the winter, there isn't much to do," he said.
In addition to mowing and string trimming, Messley said, "I do enjoy that there's a lot of history there. There are graves older than 1900," he said. "Noel Cemetery sits around Marshall Cemetery, the old part. The history of the place is right there. Those graves were dug by hand. There's even some Cantrells in that cemetery, and I have some Cantrell relatives so it's neat to think about their lives. They kind of had to cut their lives out of this wilderness. Who knows what that cemetery looked like back then?"
Messley works as a funeral director at Ozark Funeral Home in Anderson. He has been in the business for 15 years. He has been married almost 11 years to his wife Sarah.
"You get to help a lot of folks out," he said. "You're part of the community. It's nice to be recognized in the community. Plus, you get to work with all different types of families."
He said the most difficult part of his job is burying people who haven't had a full life.
"Young kids ... there can be a lot of tragedy here," he said.
He said there are "all kinds of veterans" in the cemetery at Noel.
"We have a lady who sets flags for us every Memorial Day. Her name is Michelle Anderson," he said.
Messley is paid for mowing but volunteers his time for marking graves and other tasks at the cemetery. He noted most small cemeteries are run totally on donations and by volunteers.
General News on 05/26/2016