UNITY - For several years, Sherri Peters-Davidson travelled to a pioneer cemetery near Unity where her family’s aunt was buried. Their mom had asked before her passing that they continue to look after the gravesite.
Peters-Davidson noted on a social media post that the reclamation process was slow because of overgrowth and neglect, and they could only make headway bit by bit, year after year.
However, in 2021, the family team was surprised to find the entire Scotstown Pioneer Cemetery had been cleaned up and flowers had been put on every single grave there.
Peters-Davidson sought assistance in recognizing these good Samaritans through her social media post. It was soon discovered that Jeanette Tirk and her grandchildren took on and completed this task.
Tirk says in a comment on this post once it was shared on a Unity community page, “I thought the RM of Grass Lake was looking after it, but to my surprise they weren’t. It was a huge job but well worth it knowing that someone appreciates the work.”
Retired Unity United Church minister, Louise Robson, also posted saying, “I tried some time ago to find out who was responsible for that graveyard because if it ‘belonged’ to the United Church. We needed to know.”
Tirk says she and her grandchildren’s work was done out of respect and gratitude for the pioneers that built the area.
People like Tirk, who undertake pay-it-forward actions such as these, are among those who feel the pioneers that built our province deserve respect and gratitude, and demonstrate that with actions such as those undertaken by her and her grandchildren.
