About the Descendants of Olivewood
Descendants of Olivewood is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization founded in 2003 by members who have ancestors buried in Olivewood Cemetery.
The current Board of Directors of the Descendants of Olivewood
Margott Williams - President - Descendant
Charles Cook - Vice President, Treasurer - Descendant
Laurie Feinswog - Secretary
Debra Sloan
Melrita Taylor - Descendant
Committees
Landscaping/Restoration
The Landscaping and Restoration Committee is responsible for maintaining the grounds, creating and working on the cemetery master plan, ensuring the plans stay within legal guidelines, organizing volunteer clean up crews, and ensuring that the volunteers follow those plans as they help clean up the grounds. They are also responsible for the historical restoration of damaged monuments and plots.
History
The mission of the History Committee is to acquire deeds related to the cemetery, document graves and create a database along with GPS maps and grids, create bios of interments, interview descendants of those interred, create curriculum for area schools, acquire historic photos, maps and any other documents related to the cemetery, create adopt-a-plot guidelines, perform archaeology surveys, work with area churches and funeral homes to acquire historical documents, and designate “Special Plots”. We are currently looking for leadership positions for this committee.
Public Relations
The purpose of the Public Relations committee is to get the word out about Olivewood Cemetery and the doings of the Descendants of Olivewood. This is a new committee and we are looking for anyone to help, but particularly people with PR backgrounds, or familiarity with website maintenance, and Web 2.0 tools like Facebook, Twitter, and email newsletters like this one.
Fundraising
One of the most important committees we have, we are always looking for more help. The fundraising committee is responsible for everything from the Penny Drive at the Halloween Event, to the Kroger Card neighborhood connection, to writing grant proposals to large charitable foundations.
Security
Security is our number one concern as we clean more of the cemetery, expose more fragile headstones, and create more public awareness of this historic landmark. We must put up a fence to prevent vandals from doing further harm to the irreplaceable statuary on the grounds. The Security Committee is in charge of the fence project, as well as working with neighbors and the city to ensure that the cemetery is protected.
Engineering
Olivewood faces a number of engineering challenges, most notably the remediation of destructive erosion along the banks of the bayou. We have graves at risk that must be stabilized or moved.that is putting a number of graves at risk.
Partners
City of Houston
Superneighborhood #22
Links and Resources
Coming soon...
