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Read our Thank You Letter

Oakwood Cemetery Sesquicentennial Events 2015

Please note: Events are subject to change. Please check our Facebook Page to confirm the next upcoming event. For more information you can call Tom Cook at 585-465-0971. (Events with a "*" have had a date or time change since the original posting.)

Click Here for a pdf file of the schedule!

April -

-Saturday, 18th *,- 9am to 2pm: Community Service Day; individuals, families, and organization are invited to help us clean up Oakwood. Bring your favorite rake and gloves! Stay as long as you can!

May -

-Monday, May 4th Firefighters Day - ceremony to mark grave of Elmer Van Gilder TBA
-Sunday, 10th - Mother’s Day Spring Nature Walk with Letchworth Park Naturalist Doug Bassett 2- 3:30 pm
-Monday, 25th Nunda's Memorial Day 11 am Parade with Ceremonies at the Soldier's Mounument in Oakwood Cemetery. Tom Cook, President of Oakwood Cemetery Association will be the speaker.
-Saturday, 30th (Traditional Memorial Day) Civil War Day 2- 4 PM; Commemoration Ceremonies at Soldiers Monument - 2 - 2:45; Walking Tour and Decorating of CW Soldier’s Graves 2:45 - 4 pm

June-

-Sunday, June 14th 2 pm -3:30 - Cemetery Theme Tour - Flag Day Tour - walk among the flags in the cemetery and hear the stories of some of Nunda area veterans who rest in Oakwood.
-Sunday, June 28 4- 5:30 Cemetery Theme Tour - Love, Eternal - stories of love lost, found, and celebrated among the stones.

July-

Saturday, July 4th 9-10:30 am Flag Raising and Tour of Revolutionary War and War of 1812 graves
Sunday, July 12th 1 PM Dedication of plaque honoring James Paine, 1st permanent settler of Nunda by Paine descendants; 4:00-5:30pm Cemetery Theme Tour- Our Pioneer Fathers (and Mothers) Visit the graves and hear the stories of some of Nunda's early settlers.
Wednesday, July 29th - 7:00-8:00 PM Cemetery Theme Tour - Nunda Notables: Local men and women who left their mark in the history books. (Note: this is a change in day and time from original schedule)

August-

-Saturday, August 8th, 1:30-3 PM - Nunda Homecoming Presentation - Cemetery Genealogy Workshop. Registration required through the Nunda Historical Society.
-Sunday, August 23 12:30 - 5 PM, Oakwood Cemetery Day - A Sesquicentennital Celebration!
wagon tour, official dedication of monument, honoring founding association members graves, special living history tour, dedication of memorials to Fred Dake and John Osajca, historical scavenger hunt, refreshments - Details to follow!

September- (please note - the dates of each of the walks below have been changed from the original schedule. The dates below are the proper dates.)

-Sunday Sept 13 - 4 -5:30, Cemetery Theme Tour - A visit to Oak Knoll - tour of OC 1 & 2 - the oldest section of the cemetery dating to the 1820s
-Sunday, Sept 27 4-5:30, Cemetery Theme Tour - Remembering the Forgotten, Stories of Oakwood’s Pauper Field and unmarked graves

October -

-Sunday, Oct 10 - 4-5:30 The Tour scheduled for this day has been postponed until next year. The Community Service Day and the Fall Nature Tour with Doug Bassett will be held as scheduled!
-Saturday, Oct 17 - 10am to 1 pm Community Service Day - Bring Your Own Rake!
-Sunday, Oct 25- 2 - 3:30 Fall Nature Tour with Doug Bassett

November-

-Wednesday, Nov 11, Veterans Day Ceremony 11 A.M - Please use the West Street Entrance. Additional parking is available in the Seating Inc parking lot.

A "Thank You" from the Oakwood Cemetery Association

The Oakwood Cemetery Association would like to thank everyone who attended Oakwood Cemetery Day in Nunda on August 23rd. Special thanks to the participants: Amie Alden, Livingston County Historian; Valerie Griffing, Nunda Town Historian; Jim Culbertson, liaison for Senator Cathy Young; Commander Stephen Edick and members of the Seager-Werner American Legion Post; Commander Carl Bennett and members of the Duryea-Kleinhenz-Lanthrop VFW Post; Commander Joe Lawrence and members of the Arland Kelly American Legion Post in Dalton, the scouts from Nunda Troop 77 and the members of the Friends of Nunda Cemeteries who helped with the day. We also appreciate the special appearances of some of Oakwood Cemetery’s notable residents: pioneer Polly Paine (portrayed by Sue Long), Sarah Stilson (Sue Erdle), Richard Gay (Trevor Early), W.B. Sanders (Reggie Grosse), painter Rose Shave (Sandy Bonadonna), Marge Frost (Patty Galbraith), Denton and Carrie Robinson (Tom and Barb Byrnes), cemetery sexton Samuel Reckard (Jay Billyard), Cora Dowling (Marchelle Vianese), Florence Olp (Vicki Holland), Samuel Swain Jr (Alex Pierce), Upton and Sarah Spencer (Jack and Jackie Morgan),Captain Henry W Hand (Tim Stoufer) and the Koeppe Sisters (Katherine Lefler and Sarah Garrett). The Union Fife and Drum Corps from Buffalo NY also added to the event. We thank Gail Kellogg Hope for helping with the costumes, Vicki and Casey Goll for being chauffeurs throughout the day, Peter and Verdellia Hendrickson for the bottled water, and Rick and Norma Timothy for the use of folding chairs and props for the actors. We also thank Supervisor Tom Baldwin and the Town Board for the resolution recognizing Oakwood Cemetery Day.

Several area businesses also helped make the day a success. We thank Seating Inc for the use of their parking lot; Lawson’s Sand and Gravel for donating the new memorial boulder for the Soldiers’ Monument, the Nunda Methodist Church for the use of their chairs, Woodlynn Hills Golf Course for the use of two golf carts, Bob Rymer of the Nunda Fire Department for his help with parking, the Village of Nunda for letting us borrow the cones and street barricades, and the Genesee Valley Mountain Dulcimer Club for the traditional music. In addition, Kathy’s Country Florist, Don’s Sign Art, O’Brien’s Septic Service, Carmichael & Reed Monument Company of Warsaw, and Doug Lawrence all played a role.

Finally I would like to personally thank Association Board member Bob Piper for his outstanding work on the cemetery grounds. Board members Joan Schumaker and Ray Goll should also be commended on the work on flowers and gravestones, along with volunteers Patty Piper and Gary Ludwig. I also thank my fellow committee members Tom Byrnes, Katherine Lefler, Joan Schumaker, Patty Galbraith, and Ellyn Hotchiss. Kady deserves special recognition for heading up the living history part of the tour. Board members Jim McMaster, Patty Galbraith and the Association’s secretary/treasurer Merilee Walker also played an important part in the preparation and planning of the day.

The Association hopes that you will visit Oakwood soon and see the renovated 1897 Soldiers’ Monument ,with its new commemorative plaque, and the memorial benches to cemetery benefactors Fred Dake and John Osajca. We also invite you to participate in the activities we have planned during the rest of our Sesquicentennial year! You will find upcoming events on our Facebook page and at www.nundaoakwoodcemetery.org.

Tom Cook President, Oakwood Cemetery Association