As a modest crowd looked on and with trumpets playing in the background Saturday at Mount Union Cemetery, Summit-area farmer and Portland firefighter David Barron placed a wreath at the Shipley family grave site.
Exactly 163 years earlier — May 11, 1861 — Reuben Shipley donated 2 acres of land to help establish a cemetery where Black people could be buried. Barron’s contribution to the program was just one of several moving moments in a memorial event that also recognizes Fallen Peace Officer Memorial Day (May 15), Armed Forces Day (May 18) and Memorial Day (May 27).
Fire and Rescue Calls: Motorcycle crash, vehicle-house incident among responses
Editor’s note: This log is based on information submitted to the media by Philomath Fire and Rescue: FRIDAY, MARCH 6 • No calls of public significance reported. Other calls: Emergency medical services responded to calls at 9:40 a.m. (Main Street) and 4:45 p.m. (Houser Lane). SATURDAY, MARCH 7 • 5:14 p.m. — Emergency medical services…
Eric Niemann, who served a term as Philomath’s mayor, said he feels the need to take on the responsibility of organizing an event to remember veterans. It grew out of a flag-placement ceremony Niemann introduced in 2015.
“Originally, I started it out as a Cub master trying to teach young people how to act and behave with respect in a cemetery,” Niemann said. “That evolved, I think, as I learned more about the Shipley family story and reached out.”
In those first years, the Memorial Day-related event revolved primarily around the veterans buried in the cemetery but also served as a way to share the Shipley story. Since then, Armed Forces Day and Fallen Peace Officer Memorial Day were added with the timing of those special days occurring in May.
“It’s our 10th year and I’m proud of our community for continuing to keep it going,” Niemann said.
Barron, who is a Black man, said ceremonies such as the one at Mount Union Cemetery hold great significance.
“I think they’re very important, especially for where we are as a country today,” he said. “This history … is something that we should be proud of.”
Barron referenced the struggles in America that continued a century after the local cemetery was established.
“A hundred years later, those same Americans were fighting for recognition and civil rights, just for the right to vote,” said Barron, who with his wife has four children in Philomath schools, including a third grader at Blodgett. “Today, the significance of not only having the right to vote but the right to an education and the right to live wherever you want to live.”
Barron said he first became aware of the Shipley story through a friend, Henry Storch, a beekeeper who keeps honeybees at his farm.
“He told me about Reuben Shipley originally and then I got to know Mr. Niemann and got further details,” Barron said. “And then today, I gleaned even more information.”
The Benton County Sheriff’s Mounted Posse opened the ceremony by bringing in three wreaths — one for the Shipley family, one for those in the armed services and fallen veterans, and one for Jimmy Appelgate, a posse member killed in 1955. A riderless horse with boots placed backwards in the stirrups represented the loss of Appelgate, a fallen rider.
Three members of the Oregon State Air Force ROTC retired the colors from the cemetery’s flagpole and raised a new flag in its place. Trumpeters Adam Burlock and Larry Landis were on hand to play.
The ROTC cadets, Mount Union Cemetery Association members and volunteers from among the citizens in attendance later placed American flags on the graves of more than 200 veterans in preparation for Memorial Day.
Erin Haynes, 74, who formerly lived in the vicinity of the cemetery, was introduced to the Shipley story through the grave marker in Row 5 of the Northwest Section and the reading of historical accounts of his life. Shipley was buried under the name Reuben Ficklin.
“I don’t know how we can move on to the future if we don’t look back in the past … look at it with an understanding of how the past can help the present,” Haynes said.
Haynes provided a history of the Shipley family for the program, something that he’s done on several occasions since the ceremony’s inception 10 years ago. He hopes events like the one Saturday and the Shipley family story have an impact on a local young Black boy or girl.
“They’re going to hear the story about what happened 163 years ago. .. It’s the best-kept secret around and it doesn’t need to be,” said Haynes, who praised the efforts of Niemann for “waking up people and bringing this story back.”
Barron expressed pride in having the opportunity to be a part of the day’s events.
“It’s a really good opportunity to be a part of the community but specifically with the Mount Union Cemetery story,” he said.
