Members of Marshalltown High School Class of 1964 donated $2,200 to Riverside Cemetery on Friday.

Vic Hellberg of Hellberg’s Jewelers helped organize the fundraising efforts and said he hopes the donation will draw more attention to the needs of the cemetery.

“Part of what we’re doing here and doing it now is to bring it back out in front of the public,” he said.

Members of the MHS Class of 1964 there to present the donation said the park has long been a treasured part of Marshalltown.

Headstone and monument damage is still prevalent across Riverside Cemetery after the August 2020 derecho.

“Anytime you have someone come to Marshalltown and you take them on a tour of Marshalltown, this is one of the first places you go,” MHS Class of 1964 member Patty Duff said.

The 2020 derecho devastated the nearly 100 acre cemetery to an almost complete destruction, Riverside Cemetery General Manager Dorie Tammen said.

“It’s going to be a long, long recovery,” Tammen said. “It’s not going to look like it ever did before.”

The non-profit cemetery is still paying off an $830,000 tree removal bill, which is now down to the remaining $200,000 thanks to donations.

Tammen said they are fortunate to have paid off what they have so far in part due to donations like from the MHS Class of 1964, and also in part due to borrowing money from a perpetual care trust fund regulated by the state.

Riverside Cemetery General Manager Dorie Tammen said tree damage to the area gave the park a completely different look and feel.

“We’ve gotten donations from five dollars up to thousands for dollars,” Tammen said. “Some people apologize for only giving five or 10 or 25, but every little penny helps.”

Beyond just paying tree cleanup bill, new roofing, fencing and repairs to monuments are also still needed. Because gravestones and monuments do not belong to the cemetery, owned by the families who purchased them, the cemetery’s insurance does not cover the cost of repairs.

While the cemetery has no financial obligation to fix the damage, Tammen said she feels an emotional obligation to make the cemetery look good for visitors.

She said restoration of monuments will be made as they can afford them, and hopes to use any future grant money towards repairs.

A lot more than burials goes on at Riverside Cemetary, Tammen said.

“People grew up here,” she said. “They fed the ducks, people learned to drive here, people nookie’d on the backroads. We have more visitors here for recreation than we do for burials.”

Many Marshalltown residents use Riverside Cemetery for recreation as if it were a park and the cemetery was also designed to be used as a park.

The cemetery sent close to 200 letters to the Iowa Homeland Security office from people in the Marshalltown community advocating for the cemetery’s value. The letters were sent two and a half weeks ago and Tammen said they are still waiting on a response.

Last March, the cemetery was denied funds from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) because cemeteries are excluded from the list of non-profit organizations eligible for funding.

Tammen was told by the Iowa Homeland Security office they could potentially appeal the denial if they could quantify how much the cemetery means to Marshalltown residents, which prompted them to start the letter writing campaign.

“This has become an integral part of town,” MHS Class of 1964 member Wayne Bannon said. “For people that live here and were born and raised here, you just know about the park. You always visit the park.”

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Contact Trevor Babcockat 641-753-6611 or babcock@timesrepublican.com.