Volunteers Replace Crumbling Mausoleum in Du Quoin IOOF Cemetery with New Grave

</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[For the past 91 years Jemimia E. Dunn has been resting in a mausoleum in the IOOF Cemetery in Du Quoin. Over time, the concrete veneer on the mausoleum crumbled and the stones under it loosened until the wooden casket was visible.

Fred Pabst said he first noticed the problem in 2005. He had accompanied a family to the cemetery to see where a monument should be placed. The new monument went on the plot to the north of Mrs. Dunn's mausoleum.While they were there, a raccoon crawled out of the cracked concrete of Dunn's mausoleum.

Crumbling or tilted monuments are a common problem in older cemeteries. Often, family take responsibility for repairs. When that isn't possible, it's up to the generous souls in the community to help.

For the past five years, a group of concerned citizens has been working to find surviving Dunn family members who could make the needed repairs. None were found.

Pyatt Funeral Home of Du Quoin, Pinckneyville and Coulterville took the matter into their own hands. With the help of Mark Knight of Knight Excavating in Du Quoin, Mark Barr of Barr Trucking in Pinckneyville, Larry Reidelberger of Du Quoin and St. Louis Wilbert Vault Company, Mrs. Dunn was buried June 30, 2011 in a new vault and casket next to her husband, Joe Dunn (1861-1935).

The project involved removal of the remains and transfer to the new sealed burial casket and then the re-burial.

Pyatt Funeral Home secured the necessary paperwork for disinterment/reinterment, provided manpower and donated an 18 gauge steel sealing casket.

Knight Excavating donated labor and a backhoe to remove the crumbling mausoleum. The old mausoleum consisted of several tons of concrete and blocks.

The mausoleum was constructed of concrete blocks stacked and filled with more concrete then coated with a concrete veneer. The lid was nearly a foot thick.

Barr Trucking donated the truck to haul away the concrete.

Reidelberger donated his time to dig the grave.

Wilbert Vault Company donated a concrete vault.

Those involved from Pyatt Funeral Home were: Directors Kevin Pyatt, John Wallace and Larry Cole with Fred Pabst and Cathy Foutch assisting.