Marion Elks #32 Spruce Up Elks Rest For Memorial Day
Marion Elks Spruce Up “Elks Rest” Cemetery Plot in the Marion Cemetery for Memorial Day. This Rest is one of only 69 Lodge-owned cemetery plots across the country.
Editor’s Note: History of Marion 32 “Elks Rest”
Scattered across the United States in peaceful corners of the landscape are sacred plots of ground- some small and simple, others quite grandiose- wherein rest the remains of Departed Brothers, still side-by-side in fraternal unity after their final summons to the Celestial Lodge. Known as ELKS RESTS, these are Lodge-owned cemetery plots which exist in 69 Lodge locals (or former Lodge locals) across the country.
The move to start an ELKS REST in Marion began when Brother Newton Davis remembered the Lodge in his will in 1926 with the donation of a burial lot. Mr. Davis’ strong commitment to the Order is still marked today in the Marion Cemetery by the huge elk statue at his gravesite.
This prompted the formation of a Burial Lot Committee, whereas Brother William L. Guthery (one of the “heaviest real estate holders in Marion County”) donated a sum of money sufficient to purchase lots 7 and 8 in Marion Cemetery (currently in the southeast corner of the Waddell section), containing 2750 square feet, for the sum of $2,750. The committee recommended any member who expressed a desire may be buried there, with his “estate required to pay into the Burial Lot Fund the sum of $400, this amount to include the price of a headstone.”
Currently the Marion 32 ELKS REST is the final resting place for eight departed members. We hope you can visit this site in the beautiful and historic Marion Cemetery.
Pictured at Marion Elks Monument: left to right, Rex Coldwell, PER, PDDGER; Dave Feliciano, PER; Amber Lowther