The cars parked alongside Cemetery #24, located off Pine Hill Road in Johnston and also known as Woodlawn, had mostly New York and Massachusetts license plates.
But they weren’t attending a funeral at the historic cemetery, or anything close.
Those vehicles belonged to a group of college students – 22 in all – who got up early Saturday morning and drove from Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts to help members of the Johnston Historical Society in their ongoing effort to keep all 100 burial grounds clean.
“Amazing ... absolutely amazing,” said Pat Macari, who chairs the society’s Cemetery Committee. “Think about it – 22 college kids getting up in the early morning hours and driving here to spend a day cleaning up all kinds of debris, leaves and broken branches. That’s something you don’t hear about these days.”
To which Steve Merolla, who co-chairs the Cemetery Committee, added, “Maybe so. But once you talk to these kids, you’d be surprised. This is the norm.”
The 22 volunteers, who are members of Zeta Psi fraternity – a Pi Tau Chapter – get involved with many community service projects and organizations, such as the Big Brothers Big Sisters.
“And later tonight [Saturday],” Merolla continued, “many members of Zeta Psi will be back on campus and getting involved with the [American Cancer Society] Relay for Life.”
Just how, though, did 22 Zeta Psi fraternity brothers wind up in Johnston cleaning a cemetery on Saturday morning?
Enter Michael Gifford, president of Zeta Psi, and Jason Meunier, who just so happens to be a Johnston native who graduated from La Salle Academy before entering the Worcester engineering school.
Meunier’s father, Dan Meunier, is also a member of the society’s Cemetery Committee. He and his son talked about a possible project. Gifford took it to his brotherhood, which in turn put a “let’s do it” stamp on the plan.
At around 9:30 Saturday morning, “Team Zeta Psi” pulled up to Cemetery #24. Once they held an introductory “good morning,” they began helping Macari, Merolla and Meunier Sr. do everything from cutting down fallen trees to removing leaves and other such eyesores from the site that’s about two-thirds of an acre and contains 225 burial spots.
“These kids are really into it,” Macari said while putting down a chainsaw. “Look over there – that’s a heavy part of a tree trunk those two guys [Nick DiLibero and Ali Yalaz] are carrying.”
No obstacle, though, seems to faze “Team Zeta Psi,” which helped the Cemetery Committee as groups like Boy Scout Troop 20 have done in year’s past.
“This is a unique group,” Merolla said while explaining that two of the volunteers are from the U.S. Virgin Islands, one is from Istanbul, Turkey, others are from California and Pennsylvania and the rest are from New England.
The Zeta Psi volunteers were: Michael Gifford, president; Connor Darling; Theodore Kotsiopoulos; Andrew Tannes; Nicholas Churtie; Alex Ilk; Nicola DiLibero III; Cesar Rodriguez; Matthew Mucciolo; Christopher Schramm; Nathan Meersman; Ali Yalaz; Andres Rayo; Tyler Tilbe; Garrett Curran; William Evangelakos; Alex Gikes; Stephen Petillo; Mikhail Khaki; Johan Dalai; Adam Meaner; and Jason Meaner.
Zeta Psi also has its own storied history, as the fraternity was established on June 1, 1847, at New York University. There are 56 active brothers at WPI and over 500 alumni of the fraternity.
As for Cemetery #24, Merolla explained that when James Arnold transcribed the names on the stones in 1891, it was known as “Woodlawn,” which indicated that it was a great burial ground for the use of the local community. The burials date back as far as 1817, and go through 2010.
But of that total, as Merolla noted, “67 burials are members of the Randall family.”
The Historical Society is always looking for volunteers to help clean the town’s cemeteries, Merolla said.
“It’s kind of tough for a few guys to accomplish such a task,” he said. “After all, there are 100 [historical] cemeteries in town.”
Anyone interested in helping – or even joining the society – should plan on attending the gala dedication/fundraiser on Saturday, April 26 from 1 to 4 p.m. at the Museum Barn located at 101 Putnam Pike in Johnston.
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