Nonprofit that restores headstones in Wichita’s oldest cemetery asks city for support
Barb Myers’ relationship with Highland Cemetery started with a photo — one she took of her mother standing by William “Buffalo Bill” Mathewson’s grave.
She remembers that visit distinctly, not only because it was one of her first times in the historic cemetery, but because of the significant amount of damage and deterioration there — from overgrown grave markers to heavily weathered headstones to long-forgotten fallen tree branches.
She also remembers the photo because it was one of the few pictures she would take in the cemetery of her mother standing on her own before a cancer diagnosis rendered her unable to walk without aid. Now, Myers said, her mother is in remission — and so is Highland Cemetery.
“I have plans,” Myers said. “I have told people before I will do anything and everything to help get that cemetery taken care of.”
Myers is the founder of The Friends of the Wichita Pioneers, an organization she established 10 years ago, not long after her first visit to Highland Cemetery. She was inspired to create the restoration group after seeing dozens of headstones and grave markers in disrepair at Highland, Wichita’s oldest cemetery.
To do so, she tracks down the family members of those buried at Highland and asks for their permission to repair their ancestor’s graves. Then, Myers relies on a few other members of the group and donated funds to restore the stones. She said it costs between $40 to $50 in supplies to repair a headstone, not including if it needs a new base. It’s a service that Myers said the group will never charge for.
“I’ve spent 10 years of my life here. I really felt like I needed to be taking care, honoring those people who were there and honoring, more importantly, those people who are still alive, the descendants,” Myers said. “ … We do everything from preserving the stones for families … (to) historic tours. … We go out there and fix everything that we can.”
Highland Cemetery, at Ninth and Hillside, is one of two city-owned cemeteries. While Wichita’s Department of Park & Recreation is responsible for the preservation and beautification of Jamesburg Park Cemetery and Highland, headstones are considered private property, which makes it difficult for the city to obtain the proper permission from families to repair headstones.
Park & Recreation Director Reggie Davidson said the work Myers and her group does, including reaching out to the descendants of Highland inhabitants to repair their headstones, has been invaluable.
“Barb and her team is doing a really good job of working with us over a number of years with maintaining those,” Davidson said. “ … (We want) to be able to continue that relationship.”
Myers thinks the city can do more.
“This is part of the Park Department, but they’re not giving it the respect of being part of the Park Department or being a historic site,” Myers said.
To get respect and support for the cemetery, Myers addressed the Wichita City Council earlier this month, asking for additional support in caring for Highland Cemetery. She was motivated to address the council after, earlier this year, several headstones and grave markers that Myers and The Friends of the Wichita Pioneers repaired were vandalized.
Myers contacted the city soon after asking for security measures, such as cameras, to be installed well as for repairs to be done on damaged gravestones. In response, Myers said she was told the city didn’t have the funding to fulfill her requests.
“They’re (cemeteries) part of the parks department, but all they really do is mow the grass, take care of the trees if they fall, if the limbs fall, that kind of stuff,” Myers said. “They don’t take care of the stones. They say, ‘No, no, that’s the family’s job,’ To which we say, ‘Yes, but if that stone falls down, and that family is four generations down and they don’t even know they have family, who’s going to take care of it?’”
On behalf of The Friends of the Wichita Pioneers, Myers made three requests to the City Council. She asked for periodic access to city labor and equipment to repair large monuments, for the city’s Historic Preservation Board to create an advisory committee to counsel the board and Park Department on cemetery upkeep, and for an explanation of the Cemetery Trust Fund.
Myers said she felt money in the trust fund, which was created “for the purpose of permanently maintaining and caring for both (Highland and Jamesburg Park) cemeteries” according to the Wichita cemetery rules and regulations, was going unused. She said she was told by Park & Recreation on one occasion that it was empty.
“We’ve always told them (the city) that we operate on a shoestring budget,” Myers said. “We can make use of anything they have.”
Davidson explained in an interview with the Eagle that the money in the Cemetery Trust Fund is spendable but must also be conserved to help sustain it. The trust has a minimum amount of restricted funds, $235,437, that have to be saved for maintenance and upkeep, such as trash and water services, insurance and a mowing contract. The money in the fund, including the restricted funds, Davidson said, is invested and accumulates interest, which then helps comprise the annual budget.
“We’re able to use that amount and do investments to help grow it, to be able to expand that amount, to be able to support operations for the cemetery itself,” Davidson said.
But there are also limitations on what the money can be spent on. Money within the fund can only go toward maintaining graves and improving the city’s cemeteries. That means, according to Davidson, that Myers’ request for security cameras wouldn’t qualify as an eligible expense.
Since presenting for the city council, Myers said she’s had productive conversations with the city, Park & Recreation and the Historic Preservation Board regarding her requests.
“I feel like we’re going in the right direction,” Myers said. “ … I feel hopeful. I feel like it’s going to work.”
Davidson said the collaboration between the city and Myer’s group is exactly what Park & Recreation hopes to see and do more of.
“We establish a lot of volunteer relationships throughout the community,” Davidson said. “We welcome people that have an interest in, you know, if they have a local park in their community that they would like to be engaged and involved with, we welcome them to come out and assist them.”
For Myers, it comes down to one thing.
“I don’t want to go out there and change the world,” she said. “I just want to make sure that somebody is still watching the cemetery.”
This story was originally published June 25, 2025 at 4:17 AM.
