Two newcomers seek to upset cemetery district incumbents

Five candidates will be found on the ballot for the Hot Springs County Cemetery District, incumbents Rose Watkins, Jeanie Love and Cindy DeVries along with newcomers Linda Berry and Julie Lehman.

Berry has lived in Thermopolis over 40 years, teaching in the school district and at the Wyoming Boys School before retiring.

Her decision to run for the district has come after years of seeing how much more beautiful the cemeteries are now and she has chosen to give what time she can to help the district.

Lehman is a Thermopolis native and is running for the position on the board because she feels she owes community service to her hometown, believes she can bring progress and a fresh perspective to the board and is eager to develop a good working relationship with the rest of the board after creating Hawk’s Avenue of Flags.

Incumbent Jeanie Love has been on the board since 1998 and being a life-long resident, has seen where the cemeteries started and is proud of the work that has been done to bring them to where they are today.

Love built the directory and researched the graves and hopes to be able to continue working on identifying every person laid to rest in both cemeteries.

The second incumbent, Rose Watkins, has been on the board for eight years and has served as board chairman.

Watkins’ reasons for running again are simple, saying the current board is good and the employees they oversee are great, adding the cemeteries are a place of pride for the whole community and she would like to continue keeping it that way.

Third incumbent, Cindy DeVries, was not available for comment before press time