For more than a decade, I have devoted my life’s work to the preservation of Kansas history through the protection of abandoned private cemeteries. Unlike municipal, church, or corporate cemeteries, these small family plots, graveyards, and burial grounds often sit on private land, hidden by brush and forgotten by law.
My journey began with the Sanborn Cemetery in Saline County, where burials dating back to the 1860s remain overgrown, inaccessible, and denied care. Despite local efforts, county officials refused to act, and the cemetery fell further into decay. This failure revealed a deeper problem: Kansas statutes offer no clear protections, visitation rights, or enforcement measures for private cemeteries.
To change this, I authored the Preservation and Access to Private Cemeteries and Burial Grounds Act. This proposed legislation:
Defines private cemeteries, family plots, and burial grounds.
Establishes visitation rights for descendants, historians, and preservationists.
Requires reasonable care and maintenance.
Creates a process for county oversight when landowners refuse.
Cemeteries are not just resting places—they are heritage, memory, and history. Without action, Kansas risks losing them to weeds, indifference, and time. My mission is to ensure that the dignity of our ancestors is preserved, and that future generations inherit the full story of our past.
