Changes coming to Beaufort National Cemetery
Donald Owens is glad to be back at Beaufort National Cemetery, if only temporarily.
The South Carolina native and former cemetery director returned to serve in an interim role ahead of Memorial Day. Beaufort National Cemetery’s new director, Susan Parks, is expected to start the middle of June.
Owens and the cemetery’s staff have worked to pressure-wash headstones in the weeks leading up to Memorial Day. The annual ceremony on the grounds will be held at noon Monday.
Riverview Charter School students placed American flags throughout the gravestones this week.
Many of the stones have been stained by the high iron content from the water in the well supplying the irrigation system. The cemetery has worked to remove the stains.
To ensure the stones aren’t further sullied, the well was deepened and the irrigation system will be updated. The contract for the work will be awarded by September, and the project should take three months, Owens said.
Until then, cemetery staff will continue to clean the markers as best they can. The process can’t be done in one or two washings, Owens said, and requires National Cemetery Administration-approved cleaning products.
Owens is visiting Beaufort from his new post as assistant director at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery in St. Louis. Mo. He directed Beaufort National Cemetery from 2010-2014.
“I always loved the community,” he said. “It’s like coming home.”
Parks graduated from the National Cemetery Administration’s intern program in 2015. She joined National Memorial Cemetery of Arizona as assistant director.
Parks will start in June.
“I’m very excited about the opportunity,” she said by phone Friday.
Previous director Craig Arsell left early this year to become assistant director of Long Island National Cemetery. Arsell was part of an effort to improve landscaping at the cemetery and complete an expansion that added thousands more graves.
Jim Taft, chief of operations for the National Cemetery Administration’s Southeast District office in Atlanta, is the cemetery’s acting director.
Memorial Day ceremony
Retired U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Claudia Kennedy will be the keynote speaker for the Memorial Day ceremony at noon Monday in Beaufort National Cemetery.
Kennedy served in the Army more than 30 years, according to a news release. She retired as the Army’s first female lieutenant general.
She commanded two battalions and a brigade and later served as deputy chief of staff for intelligence, the release said.
Kennedy later served in several consultants roles and more recently has volunteered with the Hilton Head Humane Association and served on the board of the World Affairs Council of Hilton Head.
A Memorial Day parade before the ceremony starts at 10 a.m. on Boundary Street.
Stephen Fastenau: 843-706-8182, @IPBG_Stephen
May 25, 2015 Behind a brick wall along Boundary Street, America's past lies in tidy rows. They all are united in this place. As Americans. As heroes. Here are some of their stories. | READ
This story was originally published May 27, 2016 at 11:41 AM with the headline "Changes coming to Beaufort National Cemetery."