FAYETTEVILLE -- Maintaining a cemetery may seem simple enough.
But considering the minutiae of federal standards, the precision of proper aesthetics and appeasement of the living relatives, it gets a bit complicated.
Regional National Cemetery Improvement Corp.
The nonprofit group buys land to donate to the Fayetteville National Cemetery so it does not fill up and close to future burials. It depends on private donations.
To donate, mail a contribution form and check to:
Regional National Cemetery Improvement Corp.
P.O. Box 4221
Fayetteville, AR 72702
Or, go online to donate or apply to join:
Source: Staff report
The Fayetteville National Cemetery on Wednesday received the government's highest honors for organizational excellence and customer satisfaction.
Retired Lt. Col. Stephen Gray, former military staff to U.S. Sen. John Boozman and Gov. Asa Hutchinson during his time as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, has attended numerous funerals for fallen service men and women at the site. He's also seen several national burial places for veterans in his travels.
Gray now chairs the Fayetteville National Cemetery's advisory council. He said maintaining the grounds is paramount in respecting the memory of veterans and their families.
"That's one of the things I always have prided this area and this particularly cemetery with," Gray said. "We never got complaints. If we ever did, it was very rare. If anything, we got tremendous compliments."
The cemetery at 700 S. Government Ave., sits on 15 acres and serves as one of 77 open to burials. The National Cemetery Administration of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs maintains 135 national cemeteries with about 21,400 acres, about 57 percent of which are undeveloped, according to a government fact sheet.
The Fayetteville National Cemetery recognized the 150th anniversary of its founding last Memorial Day. More than 9,800 veterans and their family members have places at the site. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1999 and operates on a $750,000 annual budget.
About 2½ additional acres the cemetery owns are undeveloped. The Regional National Cemetery Improvement Corp., a local nonprofit group established in 1984, raises money and buys land near the cemetery, then donates it. The organization's efforts have added about 10 acres, a total of 30 properties worth nearly $1 million.
The cemetery and its staff of seven employees underwent a rigorous assessment and improvement review to gain the awards it received Wednesday. A team of five inspectors from Washington visited the site for three days and analyzed every inch of the place and its operation, said Albert Maxwell, cemetery director. Fayetteville scored 95 percent and above on most measurements, he said.
"It's kind of nice when you come into a place and it's part of the culture. Everybody wants to serve the veterans and they want to do the best job," Maxwell said. "When they're already living and breathing that way, it's easy to steer them in the right direction from there on out."
The inspectors evaluated the site on 180 metrics. They go through gravesite layout maps, ensure proper permits are in place, check that financial records stay within federal rules, collate every receipt, check vehicle information and analyze safety precautions.
That's just the operational side. Inspectors use a fine-toothed comb to pick apart the grounds' aesthetics. Every plant species has to be native to the area. Dirt dug up for graves has the clay removed and recycled. Headstones must be no less than 99.5 degrees at level and in line.
The third criteria pertains to committal services and the impression made on visiting family members. Customer satisfaction surveys regularly go out to next of kin and funeral homes.
The Fayetteville National Cemetery was one of three sites awarded for organizational excellence after 37 were inspected last year, said Steven P. Best, regional director for the National Cemetery Administration. The cemetery last received the award in 2009, when it was still known as the Shrine Award. Fayetteville also received the award this year for customer satisfaction.
A lot can happen in nine years, Best said. The Fayetteville cemetery has had a new director nearly every year in between receiving organizational excellence awards, yet that excellence has remained, he said. Directors keep getting promoted for their efforts.
"Things can go to hell in a hand basket, so to speak, if leadership isn't there driving this process," Best said.
The future of the cemetery is sound. With its current space, in-ground cremations should last until 2024, with casket burials until 2025, crypts until 2026, and cremation or columbarium spaces through 2029, Maxwell said.
After expanding onto available land, crypts and casket burials should be covered until 2035 with enough columbarium spaces until 2045, according to Maxwell.
The University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, bought several pieces of land just north of the cemetery in anticipation of developing an arts district while the cemetery has expanded onto adjoining property. Student housing was built to the east within the past few years. The two entities haven't yet butted heads, Maxwell said.
"We'll be open for a while," he said.
Price's regional office in Lakewood, Colo., keeps track of the available space at all 21 of the national cemeteries it oversees.
The other two national cemeteries in the state are in Fort Smith and Little Rock. The Fort Smith National Cemetery accepts new burials. The Little Rock one does not.
Perhaps the most well-known national cemetery, in Arlington, Va., is projected to run out of space by 2041, according to a news release on the cemetery's website.
Ron Butler, a past president of the Regional National Cemetery Improvement Corp., said the group has money in the bank to expand Fayetteville's site. Its mission has not changed, but its members are aged 60 years old and older, he said.
"The biggest need right now is some younger help," he said.
Membership in the corporation is open to anyone who's interested.
NW News on 04/29/2018