Newport’s historic Eureka Cemetery & Mausoleum, serving the local community for over a century, recently welcomed a new manager and has embarked upon exciting fresh programs.
Long-time Newport resident Deborah Miller took over as manager in February when Kharizma McAnulty accepted a new position, though she remains as a public member of the nonprofit group. Miller has a degree in journalism and worked as a reporter before joining the county school district as communications director for six years. From there, she spent four years with Garmin Marine. For the past 14 years, she served as funeral director and arrangement counselor at Bateman Funeral Home.
Miller’s communication and organizational skills will serve the cemetery well as the group begins work toward an extensive capital campaign designed to update and improve the facility, as well as to invite more community participation. Eureka’s board met in retreat last fall and will continue this work in late June with Philanthropy Studio of Portland. The group will mobilize around projects to include improvements on the roads and land, modernization of the infrastructure and building restoration. Miller has begun seeking grants for financial assistance and is organizing field trips with local schools to introduce young citizens to this historic final resting place.
All are invited to share this year’s Memorial Day celebration on Monday, May 27, beginning at 11 a.m. The grounds at 1101 NE Yaquina Heights Road, Newport, will be decorated with thousands of flags, placed on the graves by local volunteers to honor the veterans who rest there. As the flags fly in the spring breezes, they offer strength and comfort to families and the community. The celebration will include prayers offered by Rev. John Smithies of Atonement Lutheran Church, a posting of the colors, the service anthem for each branch, guest speakers, and poetry.
The community is also invited to help prepare for the event by picking up litter, pulling weeds and cleaning grave markers throughout the month of May, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Cleaning materials, gloves and supplies are available at the facility office.
The cemetery continues to sponsor the program to “Adopt a Grave” belonging to a veteran buried in the cemetery who may have no family in the area to maintain the marker or headstone. Anyone who wishes to assist in this effort is invited to contribute $75 toward one year’s resurfacing or repair of a marker in need of maintenance. A donor may select a specific grave to serve or contact the office for help in determining a recipient.
This winter, the cemetery will participate for the second year in National Wreaths Across America Day on Dec. 14. The effort supports donations of $17 each to place wreaths on the graves of service members resting at the cemetery.
Eureka Cemetery is the oldest in Lincoln County and is known as a Pioneer Cemetery. The initial 22 acres, once rich farmland, were donated by John and Nancy Jessup in 1879 “to the public of Yaquina Bay for use as a cemetery.” Many notable citizens of the area are buried there. The grounds offer stone benches and picnic tables as places of contemplation. In summer evenings, members of the resident deer and elk herds may share the grounds with local families. The many rugged evergreens bordering the lawns include a Monterey Cypress which, though battered by the recent ice storm, has survived for over a century.
The cemetery is featured in the Oregon Coast Quest program sponsored by Oregon Sea Grant. It is maintained as a nonprofit organization governed by a volunteer board of directors, which meets monthly. Several positions on the board currently vacant. Anyone interested is encouraged to apply through the office at 541-265-7282 or at ecaor@outlook.com. The public is also invited to attend the annual meeting of the organization on Monday, June 10, at 5 p.m. at the cemetery.
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