NEWCOMERSTOWN - The village cemeteries now have a legislative body dedicated to looking after them.

Newcomerstown council recently voted to form a three-person cemetery board comprised of Councilwoman Kristie Wilkin and citizens Robyn Hickman and Michelle Mozena. Wilkin says she’s been working to re-establish the board since it was disbanded by a previous administration.

"That’s really all that I’ve ever wanted to do because when we went through the financial emergency before I was on council, and the cemetery was not being taken care of, I was one of the people coming to the council meetings begging the mayor at the time to do something about the cemetery," she says.

Wilkin is not planning to run for a second term on council, so she says this will give her the opportunity to continue serving the community.

"I ran for council, and I’ve done that for four years now. My term’s up in December, and this is a great way to actually be a volunteer, stay involved in the community, and make sure that the cemetery is beautiful for every family that has somebody down there," she says.

Wilkin says the other two board members are as passionate as she is about keeping the final resting places of residents’ loved ones beautiful for generations. 

“Robyn Hickman is a Newcomerstown resident the same as me, born and raised. She was one of my biggest supporters when I was trying to take make sure the cemetery was going to be taken care of. Michelle Mozina is also a small business owner here in Newcomerstown, and she also has family buried at the cemetery, and she too wants to be a part of giving back to the community.”

Wilkin says the group’s first order of business will be to buy a new mower for the summer. 

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