San Angelo's Historic Cemetery Thrives With a Little Help From its Friends

SAN ANGELO, TX — During the month of March, the City of San Angelo celebrates the 125th anniversary of historic Fairmount Cemetery. The cemetery is under the watchful eye of both its staff and the Fairmount Cemetery Board. But there’s also another group devoted to our city cemetery, and that is the Friends of Fairmount.

The Friends formed in 2006 as a non-profit auxiliary organization. Friends of Fairmount’s mission is to preserve the history of this state landmark, to beautify its grounds to reflect its importance to the community, to provide activities that help to engage and educate the general public about the cemetery and its history, and to promote projects to help extend the economic life of Fairmount Cemetery.

The Friends of Fairmount, with the help of a $24,000 matching grant in 2012 from the San Angelo Health Foundation and private contributions, funded a Fairmount Cemetery master plan designed by Komatsu Architects. The City of San Angelo approved and adopted the master plan as part of its Capital Improvements Plan.

Friends of Fairmount entered a working partnership with the City and together recently built the cemetery’s first columbarium, one of the improvements in the adopted plan. This new addition enhances and helps to sustain the long-term economic viability of Fairmount by providing an increasingly requested service – a resting place for ashen remains.

Annually, Friends of Fairmount leads a two-day educational program for fifth-graders called “Stones and Bones: Where History is Buried.” Through this offering, San Angelo’s history comes alive at Fairmount Cemetery, as volunteers take the students on tours of the site.

By practicing “cemetery manners,” students learn to respect the cemetery and those buried there, as well as hear about notable people who helped to shape our community’s history.

Searching for symbols on headstones teaches the students how to understand more about the lives of the people buried in Fairmount. This highly successful program continues to grow, and the organization is always searching for more volunteers to train to meet the demand for Stones and Bones history tours. Each year, we guide more than 500 fifth-grade students through Fairmount Cemetery.

Friends of Fairmount also leads other events, such as the annual Veterans’ Day program. Prior to Nov. 11 each year, volunteers from throughout the community place more than 1,700 flags on the graves of the veterans buried in the cemetery.

Friends of Fairmount also provides an opportunity to purchase and place fresh Christmas wreaths in the cemetery each holiday season. We also plan other events, including cemetery/living history walks.

FOF is known for forming coalitions with other groups interested in all aspects of the cemetery. These include the City of San Angelo, Fort Concho, the San Angelo Museum of Fine Arts, Angelo State University, Goodfellow Air Force Base and the San Angelo Independent School District.

Volunteer opportunities are available all year, with the most concentrated time for needed help starting in October with Stones and Bones, continuing through November with the Veterans’ Day events, and ending in December with the fresh wreath placement.

To join Friends of Fairmount or find out more about ongoing programs and volunteer opportunities, visit friendsoffairmount.org.

During the month of March, San Angelo is celebrating Fairmount Cemetery's 125th Anniversary. We are grateful for the help of Harper Funeral Home for sponsoring our series of articles about this city treasure.