Officials hope maps aid archives and city
By Staff
Jonathan Willis
Chris Ozbirn has been director of the Franklin County Archives and Research Center for more than five years.
In that time, she has overseen the completion of a veteran's memorial park and added to the countless number of items available in the center.
But it's the group's latest project that she sees as being one of the biggest assets.
Ozbirn and a group of archives volunteers, including Gerald Jackson and Sammy Garner, have completed a map with diagrams and burial listings for Knights of Pythias Cemetery in Russellville.
"About eight months ago, Gerald Jackson and I were talking about how hard it is to find graves in KP Cemetery," Ozbirn said. "He said we should do something about it, so we did. Gerald got an aerial view of the cemetery from the courthouse and we had an architect draw us a new map of the cemetery."
They then outlined the cemetery by certain rows and sections. Garner then went to work listing all of the names of those known to be buried in the cemetery.
"Sammy goes over there every two or three days and makes sure that our records are up to date," Ozbirn said. "We add to our database every time someone is buried there."
The information is relayed to the Russellville Street Department who oversees maintenance of the cemetery.
Russellville Mayor Troy Oliver said citizens often stop by city hall to ask how to find family members buried in the cemetery, but there has been no way to help them.
"This will help everyone," Oliver said. "It will be very valuable to the street department and it will help people locate the graves they are looking for. I really applaud (Ozbirn) for all the work she does at the archives and this will help them and the city."
Ozbirn said many people researching their family's past want to see the actual graves where family members are buried and this will help them locate them more easily.
She also hopes that residents who know where an unmarked grave is located will contact her so the records can be even more accurate.
The city will soon place signs at the cemetery marking the rows and sections.
"I think this is one of the best projects we have done," Ozbirn said. "It means a lot to have the support of the local governments on a project that we are working on."
