Hello to Potential Dixon Cemetery Weed Trimmers!

You may be dreaming of being a Dixon Cemetery Weed Trimmer 

Maybe you would like the opportunity to brave the ticks, poison ivy and coronavirus in order to develop your string trimmer skills and picking-up-sticks skills – at your own risk. The lawn mowing part seems to get done beautifully by Austin. The front mowed area looks so nice and Austin and others are much to be thanked. The new grass is growing nicely.

A Weed Trimmer volunteer can wack weeds and grass in the cemetery itself and pick up fallen debris. They can trim around certain fences and generally do whatever they can in an hour or two that helps most in making the entire grounds neat and accessible.

Take a look at the schedule below. If you can, give me a call, let’s share brief tips on how we do the job, and maybe let me put you on the schedule.

Best to you all and keep safe.
Will Cardwell(434) 907-9965

https://docs.google.com/document/d/10ygbTxJosV8gStCwZc78E_MRU-DR6-M_NjlRWEl57ng/edit?usp=sharing

Right now you can read the minutes of the last meeting on your smart phone or Internet computer. Just go to DixonCem.org and select “About Us” and then “About the DHCA” on the menu. You will see much more there. You can see the mowing schedule which may have vacancies if you want to mow grass there one day next year. I hope that many can try navigating the web site and let me know if you have problems. I’m the webmaster and you can reach me at wcardwell@gmail.com. Current and future officers will be able to operate the organization by entering administrative information online and sharing access to it instantly. Fortunately, we are able to do all of this at very low cost, taking advantage of free online services such as Google Drive. We also have a great web developer, Mike Hickcox, who built our website and volunteers help when needed.

By the way, did you know that it doesn’t matter how you capitalize our website name “dixoncem.org”? I like to capitalize the D and the C. When I looked for an available domain name, “dixoncemetery” was taken. One consolation was that “cemetery” is often misspelled. I’ve become use to pronouncing “Cem” like “sim” as in Cemetery.

See you soon,
Will Cardwell

Greetings DHCA Members and Other Friends of the Dixon Cemetery!

Clean-Up Saturdays are Oct 28, Nov 4, Nov 11 and Nov 18 from 9am to 3pm on each of these days. We will be doing more than the usual clean-up. We will be doing the fencing to enclose our new access area where the entry road will be!

Our goals for these work days are to:

1. Clear fallen debris, building a new burn pile within our property area.
2. Weed eat and cut saplings in the cemetery.
3. Mow outside of the cemetery and the old roadway through the cemetery.
4. Clear along planned new fence area and planned chain-link fence new opening.
5. Start burning old burn pile when Austin is present and says OK to do it.
6. Start the new fence making sure cattle are left properly fenced and safe whether new fence is complete or not. Complete fencing and opening in chain-link fence if possible.
7. Safely cut down and clean up dead trees and small trees as most needed.

In case you missed it, we are Dixon Historical Cemetery Association, Inc. (DHCA), a Virginia non-stock corporation. We are now entrusted with the cemetery itself and with our new entryway and staging area which was given to the cemetery by two, generous donors. We have registered Articles of Incorporation and by-laws indicating we are organized exclusively for charitable, religious, and educational purposes that are non-political and that we intend to qualify under IRS 501(c)(3). Our legal work was done by our wonderful lawyer who took special interest in us.

We held our annual meeting on Sep. 10th and a special Directors meeting on Sep. 19th. Minutes will be distributed to members soon.

I will be sending out a reminder of our first clean-up day as Oct.28 draws closer.

Below is an updated calendar for this year.

Best Regards All,

Will Cardwell, Pres. DHCA

Updated DHCA 2017-18 Calendar with Milestones:

Sep. 10.  Annual meeting [done]

Sep. 19.  Called Directors Meeting to complete design of improvements-phase 1, plan and assign project leaders [done]

Oct. 10.  Minutes of Sep. 10 due

Oct. 19.  Minutes of Sep. 19 due

Oct. 28.  Fall Cleanup Day 1

All acquisition signatures and filings to be complete [done]

Recognition to donors and attorney to be complete [done]

Nov. 4.  Fall Cleanup Day 2

Nov. 11.  Fall Cleanup Day 3

Improvements – Phase 1 complete (Fence, Gate, Signage Installed)

Nov. 18.  Fall Cleanup Day 4

Feb. 15.  Draft of grant-application or fundraiser material.

Will’s grant-application info from CCHS due.

Mar. 10.  Spring Clean-up Half-day 1

Mar. 17.  Spring Clean-up Half-day 2

Mar. 18.  Spring Directors meeting

Nominating Committee named

Dues set for 2018-19

Fundraiser plans complete. Address list complete if needed.

Apr. 17.  Minutes of Mar. 18 minutes distributed

Apr. 18.  Fund raising plans carried out.

Aug. 26.  Directors Meeting to plan

Sep. 2.  Financial audit done

Sep, 9.  Annual meeting for new 2018-19 year

Dear Friends of the Dixon Cemetery.
A few of us have been working on important Dixon Cemetery business and I think our September meeting will be significant. A lawyer who was quite helpful was consulted. As a result I expect that we will have a cemetery land with rights-of-way survey done or at least a surveyor’s proposal for you to approve. Also I expect that we will have by-laws for a Dixon Cemetery association to approve, and a slate of trustees and officers to elect. We now have a draft of by-laws which we are polishing up for a vote.

Let’s begin working on getting a good turn out for this important meeting. I am optimistic that we can have the committed people and organizational structure ready so that we can file our trustees in court and become the official association responsible for the Dixon by this Fall.

Here are questions to ask yourself before you volunteer to serve or someone asks you to serve: Are you willing to be a trustee? Who do you know that would responsibly serve as a trustee? Are you willing to be an officer for at least three years, committed to restoration and preservation of the cemetery and the association? We each have an opportunity here to use our particular gifts to make a lasting contribution to the cemetery. We could go ahead with the access road and revive other cemetery preservation efforts.

At the September meeting we can also set our November work days as usual. I propose Sept. 18 at 2:30 pm as the meeting date and time. Would you let me know within one week if this is not a good date for you, assuming you would plan to attend if the date was suitable? Within two weeks, I expect to firm up the meeting time and place and email you again. (Checking availability of the CCHS meeting place in Rustburg is in progress.)

Let me know of any comments or questions and I look forward to seeing you soon.

Will Cardwell
Home:(434) 384-2283, Cell: (434) 907-9965

Join us to clear brush and tree limbs at the Cemetery on Oct 31, Nov 7,  Nov 14 and  Nov. 21 from 9am to 3pm. Any of those days that you can help, or just watch – at you own risk – would be wonderful. Bring your favorite tools and lawn chairs. A sandwich lunch will be provided around noon on each of the four Saturdays.

We had a good annual meeting on September 13, and minutes are on this site under the Meeting Minutes Menu. Progress is slow regarding right of way agreements, land surveys and our organizational structure. However such issues are slowly being addressed.

You know how to get there. If not, see our web site www.DixonCem.org or give me a call.

-Will Cardwell

Friends of the Dixon accomplished a great deal in the four cleanup sessions from October 25 through November 22, 2014. The entire cemetery, is now walkable, and looks so much better than it did a month ago… just be cautious if you visit, and watch for stumps and rocks that can easily trip you up if you are not careful. Of course no rocks are to be moved as they are grave markers. The homepage photo at DixonCem.org is a recent one taken since the area was cleaned up.

We had an average of about 16 people present and helping on each of the four cleanup days. There were chainsaws and one or two tractors working on each work day so that many dead limbs and fallen trees were moved out of the cemetery to the burn pile. Also a number of large standing dead trees were cut down and moved out, and much brush was cleared. We ended at a great resting point just prior to the holiday season. I will be listening for consensus on the scheduling of future group events as we go through our Friends of the Dixon year ending in September. Between group events we can individually be looking further into organizational matters, sources of volunteers and accessibility improvements. Thanks for your ideas which are always welcome.

– Will Cardwell 11/24/2014, rev. 12/02/2014