Sign replacement first step in upgrades at Highland Cemetery

New signs will start appearing soon in Highland Cemetery, the first visible proof of upgrades planned for the facility under the Capital Improvements Program Extension.

The north Lawton cemetery that dates back to the city’s earliest days was allocated $1 million in PROPEL 2040 for a series of badly-needed upgrades. While signs aren’t the highest priority, they are the easiest to implement.

Sexton Donald Kousman said while all six projects on the CIP list are important, city officials probably will set the work to be done in stages, as a spending plan is implemented for cemetery funds.

The new street and block signs are actually number four on the list, but they were the easiest to implement because it is a matter of paying a firm to make the signs, then having the cemetery staff set them in the ground.

“We’re ready to install them,” Kousman said, about replacement of existing signs that are aging and faded.

While funding in the CIP started with former Councilman Kelly Harris’ insistence that the fence on the cemetery’s eastern boundary had to be replaced, the highest priority is actually remodeling and renovation of the chapel and gazebo area, located in the center of Highland Cemetery. The area has long been one of the cemetery’s most prominent sites, but it also is home to a new feature: columbariums, or structures that hold funeral urns storing cremains.

Four columbariums already are in place, with that site selected because it already features a gazebo, sidewalks and benches, Kousman said. He expects more columbariums to be placed in coming years as more people select that option, rather than traditional ground burials.

Cemetery Board Chair Barry Beauchamp said there already has been good response to the new feature.

“We’d like to map out more,” he said, of a feature more and more cemeteries are incorporating because of residential requests, coupled with a desire to preserve limited space.

Kousman said the potential for higher use is the reason he wants the chapel upgrade to be a priority, because concrete in the chapel/gazebo area is badly deteriorated and needs to be replaced.

Beauchamp also is a fan of priority six: replacing cemetery flag poles.

Beauchamp said placing new 60-foot- to 70-foot-tall poles will allow the cemetery to fly a larger American flag, something important given the cemetery’s proximity to Fort Sill. Kousman said he plans to replace the flagpole in the veteran’s area and two near the cemetery office on the west side of the cemetery. He said the new poles will hold their hardware inside for protection, eliminating a weathering problem with the existing poles that have their hardware on the outside.

New fencing also is a priority.

“That’s a necessity,” Beauchamp said, explaining the project is necessary for security and aesthetics.

Harris argued for the fencing project on behalf of residents along the cemetery’s eastern boundary. That fencing separates private homes from the cemetery, but people who like to use the cemetery as a shortcut to Fort Sill Boulevard repeatedly cut the fence to gain access. Harris also was concerned those walkers could cause damage in the cemetery because they already throw food wrappers and other trash there.

Kousman said the project being considered is stronger fencing with opaque slats, giving residents some measure of privacy from burials and other cemetery events.

Other projects on the CIP list include remodeling and renovating of the cemetery’s front office, which is deteriorating and has mold from flooding; and completing concrete work, which may include a sidewalk in the back of the cemetery and curbing around the chapel area.