New gates at Camp Polk Cemetery

LaVina Wolfe and her family have provided a new gate at Camp Polk Cemetery. Wolfe's family were local pioneers and three generations are buried at the historic site. photo by LaVina Wolfe Camp Polk Cemetery is a special place for LaVina Wolfe.

Three generations of her family are buried there.

"My dad's grandparents (Warren and Mollie Farthing) were pioneers there (in Sisters)," she said.

For years, even after moving to Grants Pass, LaVina and her family have cared for the cemetery. Now, they have bequeathed upon the historic site a new element of dignity -- a steel gate.

LaVina's son-in-law Rob Pyle led the installation effort on October 16.

"Unfortunately, our time was limited that day, so we still have some finishing work to do to incorporate the gate into the existing fence," LaVina said.

Wolfe and her husband Frank paid for the gate out of their own pocket and they were "glad to do it," LaVina said.

She said that "our whole family has done everything we could to take care of" the historic site.

They have mapped the graveyard and hope one day to build a small brick shelter to house the map.

Sisters still holds a special place in LaVina's heart, with Camp Polk Cemetery acting as a locus of memory. She recalls riding her horse there often to visit the graves of her grandparents, whom she dearly loved.

She realizes that her family is now a living repository -- and one of the last ones -- of the early social history of Sisters.