Image by Natalie Maynor

A New Chapter Begins

On July 9, 2018 the Lexington Board of Aldermen voted unanimously to transfer ownership of the Odd Fellows Cemetery to Lexington Odd Fellows Cemetery, Inc., a corporation created by a group of people who have relatives and loved ones interred at Odd Fellows. For over 150 years the City of Lexington has maintained the cemetery, but with rising costs and, like many small municipalities, revenue challenges, the City decided that it was time for it to get out of the cemetery maintenance business and to transfer that responsibility to a private entity. This group of people then came together to create a corporation specifically for the purpose of maintaining Odd Fellows Cemetery.

The new corporation’s officers are President, Ed Thurmond; Vice-President, Chris Hammett; Secretary, Betsy Padgett, and Treasurer, Pat Barrett, Jr. Those officers also serve as members of the corporation’s Board of Directors along with Phil Cohen, Allie Povall, Jr., Harold Hammett, Jr., and Julian Watson, who also serves as Chairman of the Board.

Maintenance of the cemetery requires money, and the corporation intends to begin raising money almost immediately. President Ed Thurmond said, “The cost of maintaining the cemetery will be significant, and the revenues to cover those costs can come only from private donations. We have created an endowment fund to receive contributions, which are tax deductible, and we intend to contact as many people who have relatives or loved ones interred at Odd Fellows as we can in an effort to raise the funds necessary to provide maintenance for the cemetery.”

Source: Holmes County HERALD, July 26, 2018