A soggy spring has made Memorial Day a little easier for Wm. Kent Goble this year.
In past years, Goble, sexton of the Pleasant Green Cemetery, had to borrow a water truck from his employer, Kennecott Copper Corp., to haul water to the 10-acre cemetery nestled in the foothills of the Oquirrh Mountains.Established in 1882, the Pleasant Green Cemetery hasn't had a water system since the Depression, when someone stole the pipe running to the cemetery from the canal down the hill. But Goble hopes that he won't have to rely on Mother Nature - or the largesse of his employer - too much longer.
As president of the Pleasant Green Cemetery Preservation and Development Corp., he wants to deliver perpetual water and care to the pioneer cemetery founded by his great grandfather, Lehi Nephi Hardman, who was bishop of the Pleasant Green Ward of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the cemetery's original owner.
Magna, a community of 20,000 snuggled up against the Oquirrhs in western Salt Lake County, was originally named Pleasant Green.
Goble never asked for the cemetery job. But he assumed responsibility for it about a decade ago when the LDS Church relinquished ownership.
His family ties to the cemetery are strong. He estimates about half of the 1,000 buried there are his ancestors.
To reach his goal, Goble set up a private, non-profit corporation and called upon community groups to bring the cemetery back from years of neglect.
Boy Scouts, church groups and other volunteers have spent countless hours pulling weeds and sprucing up the cemetery.
The corporation also started an endowment for perpetual cemetery care. That fund now has about $6,000.
Goble and other cemetery volunteers Bill Ricco, Monte Johnson and Keith Burrell are working out a plan to install a water system, either with a pipe system from the canal or the drilling of a well.
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(Additional information)
Plot availability, costs
Plots sold Remaining Plot cost Burial*\ Bluffdale 1,715 227 $165 $135
Magna** 1,000 3,000 $ 50 $100
Midvale 5,000 1,000 $250 $125
Murray 10,000 2,000 $350 $190
Riverton 2,900 700 $350 $350
Salt Lake City 111,000 139,000 $375 $225
South Jordan 4,000 5,000 $200 $125
Sandy 6,130 841 $300 $120
Taylorsville** 3,000 4,000 $495 $250
West Jordan 5,000 5,000 $250 $150
*Cost of opening and closing the grave
**Community cemeteries run by private, non-profit corporations