For nearly 120 years, the memory of Emil Ambos has been perpetuated through his statue on his grave at Green Lawn Cemetery on the West Side.

On Monday, a new day began for his legacy, as the cemetery officially unveiled its recently restored statue of Ambos, commonly referred to as the “Fisherman’s Statue”.

Get the news delivered to your inbox: sign up for our morning, afternoon and evening newsletters

“Restoring this statue was a top priority because of its history and artistic merit, combined with its popularity with people who visit the cemetery,” said Randy Rogers, president of the Green Lawn Cemetery Association, the group at non-profit which owns the cemetery and is responsible for its preservation and restoration.

The bronze statue was cast in 1901 and depicts Ambos, who died in 1898, seated on a log holding a fishing rod in one hand and a fish net in the other with a bucket at his feet.

“He was a gentleman and a playboy,” Rogers said. “He was a ‘Bruce Wayne’ type figure in town,” in reference to Batman’s wealthy alter-ego.

Restoration of the statue was necessary due to both vandalism and age.

In the late 1990s, a vandal broke into the cemetery and shot the statue, hitting it in the center of Ambos’ straw hat. A few years later, the fish began to disappear from the spar. This was all happening as the statue began to turn green, a common discoloration from bronze exposed to the elements.

“We decided the only way to do it right was to insert it away from moisture,” said Mike Major, the Urbana-based sculptor who performed the restoration. “We actually had to clean the surface to get all that oxidation out. I also re-sculpted the fish based on a photo where there was still a fish left.

Major first sandblasted the statue to remove the oxidation before applying a mixture of wax and acid which restored the original brown hue. After bolting the new fish and a bucket handle, he applied a final coat of wax to prevent oxidation. In total, the restoration lasted about 2 1/2 months.

“If this statue is waxed every year, it will last for eternity,” Major said. “But if it is neglected, it will probably be 15 to 30 years depending on how much sand is blowing in the wind.”

The restoration, which Roger said cost around $ 30,000, was paid for by the cemetery council endowment combined with the annual donations the cemetery receives. The restoration was part of the preparations for the 175th anniversary of the cemetery, which will take place in 2023.

For Roger, the restoration not only cleaned up one of Green Lawn’s most famous statues, but also brought new attention to the history of Ambos, which Roger considers important for any cemetery.

“It’s really rewarding when we do restoration work here in the cemetery, because not only are we preserving the history of our city, but we are also preserving those stories,” Roger said. “We have people buried here who are well known; we have people here who are not. But when you come in and start researching them, you find they all had a story. “

[email protected]

@hellapalattella

Editor’s Note: A previous version of this story distorted the age of the statue.

COLUMBUS (WCMH) – Saturday was a special day for Green Lawn Cemetery, celebrating 170 years in Columbus with tours and a barbecue.

Why celebrate a cemetery? The owners take advantage of this year to draw attention to the historic beauty of the land and to celebrate the new management of the cemetery.

Dozens of people gathered to visit deceased family members and learn more about the history of Green Lawn.

“We have families who have been buried here since the 1800s and continue to be buried here today,” said Randel Rogers, president and director of the Green Lawn Cemetery Association. “You find all the stories of Columbus right here in the cemetery.”

Generations lie side by side at Green Lawn, including the family of Tom Maurer.

“This is my grandfather Frank, who has worked here all his wholesale productive life,” said Maurer, who also worked as a guard at the cemetery. “It’s his wife over there, his mother and stepfather buried in front of him.”

While working at Greenlawn, Maurer learned hard work and followed in his family’s footsteps.

“I worked here from 1941 to 1946,” he says. “My grandfather worked here before me.

Decades later, a new venture is helping bring this historic piece of land and the memories that come with it to life.

Kyle Nikola and Memorial Properties of Ohio take over Green Lawn operations.

“As a graduate of OSU, I felt a connection with Columbus,” Nikola said. “I wanted to come back here and be able to represent the community and do something special. ”

But being a cemetery keeper is more than making sure the grounds are clean and presentable. It is also about preserving history.

“We think it’s important to be a keeper of the family heritage, so we’re going to be doing things like life reviews and interviews with families and we’re keeping that in our permanent records here so that when future generations come along. looking for their ancestry, they will learn a lot more than where they were buried or just the dates of birth and death, ”said Nilola.

For Maurer, who turned 91 on July 5, the cemetery’s growth and improvements will only keep his family memories alive for decades to come.

“You can support the start of our family here,” he said.

This year is just the start of the next five years, when much of the cemetery will be restored, leading to a grand 175th anniversary celebration.

It finally appears that the name on the local gravestone will be spelled write, uh, rite … uh, correctly

Born in France, Stanislaus Roy joined the United States Army, became a sergeant, and received the Congressional Medal of Honor for bravery following the Battle of Little Bighorn in Montana in 1876.

And then he was buried with the wrong name.

Following the sergeant. When Roy died in 1913, his internment card mentioned his last name first. To make matters worse, her last name was misspelled. As a result, his gravestone at Green Lawn Cemetery read Roy Stanislas for about 80 years.

When a researcher discovered the error in the 1990s, it appeared that the spelling would finally be corrected. But when the gravestone was replaced, the “u” was again omitted from the sergeant’s name. As a result, his gravestone read Stanislas Roy for about two decades.

When Anietra Hamper visited the grounds in 2017 to research her book, Secret Columbus, she found a temporary “section under renovation” marker. Was Roy finally getting the gravestone he deserved?

Not enough. His gravestone was being cleaned and restored with gold leaf put back in the lettering, but the spelling error remained. The cemetery was still unaware of the error.

Today, thanks to Hamper, plans are underway to update the gravestone.

“At one point the internment card was corrected and we know the correct spelling of his name, but the marker itself was never corrected,” said Randy Rogers, executive director of Green Lawn. Cemetery Association.

According to the policy of the United States Department of Veterans Affairs, changes to markers must be requested by a family member. Unable to find relatives, Rogers contacted Rep Steve Stivers to intervene.

“When we had a problem repairing the grave of a Medal of Honor recipient a few years ago, [Stivers] stepped in and helped us, ”Rogers said.

At the time of going to press, Rogers was still awaiting a response. Hopefully Roy will finally rest in peace by Christmas – 105 years later.

Read more:

>> The Depot event center and the railway museum

>> The statue of the Girl with the Umbrellas in Schiller Park

>> Circus house in the Victorian village

>> Leatherlips monument in Dublin

By Will Rubin [email protected]

Centralia City Council is expected to approve a grant agreement with the state’s Department of Archeology and Historic Preservation on Tuesday for $ 27,238 in public funds to be used in conjunction with the efforts of the George Washington Bicentennial Committee to renovate the cemetery by Washington Lawn.

Councilors voted unanimously earlier this year to sponsor the committee’s request for a capital grant for the preservation of the historic cemetery that requested approximately $ 41,000 for three specific projects at the cemetery. Two of the three – the installation of a concrete walkway and curb around the family Washington plot, and the restoration of six 150-year-old limestone headstones – will be funded by the grant.

Committee member Bob Russell led the grant application process and says he looks forward to seeing the effort pay off.

“It will basically create a triangle where you can go from (the Olympic club) McMenamins to the graveyard to the (George Washington) statue,” Russell said. “This may be one more site on the historic walk around Centralia.”

The George Washington Bicentennial Committee recently completed its efforts to fund and install a statue in Washington Park of Centralia founder George Washington and his wife Mary Jane as part of his bicentennial celebration.

A major point of conversation among committee members over the past few months has been how to support efforts to recognize the Washington family now that the statue is complete.

The George Washington nominated scholarships will be awarded annually by the committee to students of Centralia College.

“Every year they will have to hear the name ‘George Washington’,” Russell said.

Restoring the Washington’s last home will give them another way to involve the community in their efforts.

“This is a neat way to restore and maintain part of Centralia’s heritage and history,” said committee chair Brian Mittge. “We’ve cleaned it up a lot over the past year and a half. We’ve done a lot of repair work, we’re looking to invest more in the long term, and it looks like we’re going to be able to do a lot. “

The grant itself will be funded on a reimbursement basis. Centralia sponsored the grant on behalf of the committee, so city funds will be used to pay local workers who submitted bids as part of the grant application.

One, Centralia Monument, has been responsible for making many headstones in Washington Lawn Cemetery for over 100 years.

Russell said he plans to work with Centralia City Manager Rob Hill and Community Development Manager Emil Pierson to get both projects in motion as soon as possible once city council approves the deal. subsidy.

“One of the things I appreciated so much about the community effort to celebrate the life of George Washington was the diversity of the group,” said Russell. “The city has been an integral part and my little piece in it has been extremely rewarding. “

And Bronson Hawley, president of Oak Lawn, wants people to come and enjoy the more than 100 acres at 1530 Bronson Road.

“That’s the point of it all,” Hawley said last week, at a reception to kick off the audio walking tour of the arboretum. “We want people to come here. We don’t want it to be a sad place.

An area along the Mill River has been smothered by invasive plants, but Hawley said these have been removed and replaced with native plants and hardwoods, thanks to two grants from the State Department of the Energy and Environmental Protection.

“It’s a beautiful, beautiful area,” said Hawley. There are five miles of walking and biking route, and nature trails established in 2015 by some Boy Scouts as part of an Eagle Scout project.

“We are trying to do more programs here,” he said. “We’re not just for funerals, but we’re honoring what our founders started.”

A veterans memorial was installed near the entrance in 2014, and in 2015, the association began hosting annual bird walks led by the Milan Bull of Connecticut Audubon.

The cemetery association was incorporated in 1865, named after the oak tree that stood in front of the entrance to the property, and with the intention that the land would serve as a botanical garden.

The board began planting oak trees along the riverbanks at the behest of Mable Osgood Wright, founder of the Connecticut Audubon Society. Now, an arboretum committee selects new specimens for the property.

Trees included in the audio tour range from mature specimens, such as a flowering dogwood, to a fairly young giant sequoia protected by a fence. It won’t stay small, as they reach an average height of 280 feet. The tour brochure includes a map and descriptions of the trees, as well as a Q code to scan with your smartphone to hear the audio. For more information visit www.oaklawnct.com.

William Allen and Don Parrott were the two main people who organized the tour and spent time tagging and identifying the trees, said Hawley, helping to promote the property as a community resource, not just a funeral site .