As you are aware, the southwest corner of Dayton Memorial Park Cemetery was severely damaged by one of the 21 tornadoes that struck the Greater Dayton area on the evening of Monday, May 27, 2019, Memorial Day. Earlier that day, hundreds of individuals visited Dayton Memorial Park Cemetery to pay their respects to friends and family members laid to rest here.

The following morning we had no choice but to close the Cemetery, for safety reasons, due to the large amount of debris on the ground and caught in trees. It became apparent very quickly that given the catastrophic damage and tremendous amount of debris deposited by the tornado we needed to reach out to the owners of the cemetery and the entire community for assistance. 

As a not for profit organization, Dayton Memorial Park Cemetery is owned by the families who own plots here.  Local community members are elected by these owners to serve on the Board of Trustees and in turn, the Trustees employ the General Manager and all other staff.  It was only logical that we would reach out to the families as they are likely most concerned about the condition of the Cemetery and ultimately, to the entire community for assistance.

To our amazement, over 500 volunteers answered the call to pitch in. The Vandalia/Butler Chamber of Commerce lent a big helping hand by supplying and cooking, a hot dog and hamburger lunch for all.

We would also like to recognize the following local businesses that also showed their community spirit by donating many items: Lowes, North Dixie Hardware, and Cintas for several hundred pairs of gloves and Sam’s Club for 500 bottles of water and 2 cases of trash bags.

The Board of Directors and Staff at Dayton Memorial Park would like to extend our most sincere thanks to all of those individuals who showed up for this unexpected tragedy and proved to the entire nation that we are “Dayton Strong.”

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The Ohio Department of Commerce Division of Real Estate & Professional Licensing is awarding $75,357 to 65 cemeteries in 34 counties throughout Ohio, through the newly-created Cemetery Grant Fund. Dayton Memorial Park Cemetery is pleased to announce that it has been chosen as one of the recipients. This newly-created fund’s purpose is to help cemeteries statewide to defray the cost of exceptional cemetery maintenance.

The $5,000 grant will be matched by the cemetery and added to a portion of a Small Business Admnistration emergency loan. Those funds will be used to replace some of the nearly 100 mature trees that were lost or severely damaged by the Memorial Day Tornado.

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