Evergreen Cemetery Association welcomes Denise Blackwell-Kraft as the newest member of the Board of Trustees. Denise replaces John Krueger, who did not run for re-election to the board. She joins other Board Trustees John Boeder, Duane Blanck, Donald Crust, Gary Bluth, Conrad Bye, John Van Essen and Fred Casey.

Denise is retired from the Army Corp of Engineers. She is fascinated with the history the cemetery provides and enjoys tending to family and neighboring gravesites. Her special interest is working with volunteers and being involved with the repeat Cemetery History Walk planned for June 2015.

Laurie Hall has recently resigned from the board for business reasons leaving a vacancy on the nine-member Board. The board acknowledged her resignation with regrets and seeks candidates to fill this opening.

According to Boeder, president of the association, a board member must be a lot owner in the Brainerd Evergreen cemetery or Memorial Gardens cemetery on County Road 3. The Evergreen Cemetery Association is a nonprofit organization. It owns and manages a total of approximately 120 acres of cemeteries on an annual operations budget of about $133,000. Both cemeteries provide for traditional burials and have options for cremated remains. These options include above ground niches in the columbarium at Memorial Gardens Cemetery. A lot owner of the association interested in becoming a board member candidate for immediate or future openings should contact John Boeder at 763-232-2856; or Karen Lentz, executive director, by phone at 829-5898; or by writing the cemetery office at Evergreen Cemetery Association, 1105 Third Ave. NE, Brainerd, MN 56401; or by email at evergreencem@brainerd.net.

(Published in the Brainerd Daily Dispatch February 6, 2015)