PARSONS – The Shaffertown Cemetery created an endowment with the Tucker Community Foundation to provide perpetual funding for the ongoing maintenance, upkeep, and preservation of the Shaffertown Cemetery located in Shaffertown outside of St. George, Tucker County, WV. The fund will be named the Shaffertown Cemetery Fund.
The Shaffertown Cemetery was established on May 13, 1921 with land purchased by the Methodist Protestant Church for $100 from P.J. Evans and his wife Annie S. Evans. At that time Shaffertown was a lumber town filled with the hustle and bustle of everyday life.
In 1976, the cemetery was enlarged with land given for the price of $10 by Theodore and Lavera Kelley. Today, the cemetery grounds are maintained by their son, Lee Kelley and Mary Jane Smith as financial caretaker.
The Shaffertown Cemetery is located in the community of Shaffertown, just outside of St. George in Tucker County, West Virginia. The families wish to ensure that there is funding available every year so that the cemetery can continue to be maintained. If there is a year where they don’t need the yearly allotment to maintain the cemetery, that money can be left in the fund to help draw more of a return for the next year.
“We are so excited to be working with the Shaffertown Cemetery to help preserve the history of Tucker County.” said Michael Moore, Chief Financial officer for the Tucker Community Foundation. If you would like to make a tax-deductible donation to the Shaffertown Cemetery Fund, make checks payable to TCF, and note Shaffertown Cemetery Fund in the memo line and mail to the Tucker Community Foundation, P.O. Box 491, Parsons, WV 26287. Online donations can be made at www.tuckerfoundationwv.org.
The Tucker Community Foundation manages more than 160 endowed funds providing annual scholarships and grants to nonprofits and charitable causes throughout its ten-county service area. Inspired by the flood of 1985, the mission of the Foundation is “to create opportunities for the individuals and communities we serve”. For more information on how to set-up an endowed fund or to learn about the foundation, call 304-478-2930.
