Memorial Day at the Eugene Masonic Cemetery 

At the base of the hill that is the Eugene Masonic Cemetery, the tall bronze doors of the Hope Abbey Mausoleum open into its cold stone interior, welcoming in visitors on an unusually hot May day.

Inside waits Caroline Forell, Cemetery Association Board President. It wasn’t always the well-kept and hospitable place it is today, she said.

When the Eugene Masonic Cemetery Association took over the 10-acre plot in 1994 from the Masons, they had their work cut out for them.

“This place was a total disaster, both this and the cemetery,” said Forell, “they discovered a car in the cemetery and didn’t even know it was there, it was that bad.”

Today, thoughtful maintenance of the restored cemetery and mausoleum provide locations for the Cemetery Association to host events and celebrations.

This Memorial Day weekend, Eugene residents may in stroll easily in from their South University and Amazon neighborhoods to this urban oasis shaded by bigleaf maple and Oregon ash trees.

On Sunday, those curious to learn more about the cemetery and the historical figures that rest there, such as city founder Eugene Skinner, can meet in front of the mausoleum at 12:30 p.m.

When the EMCA took over the Hope Abbey mausoleum, there were two inches of mud covering the floors and every clerestory window was smashed in.

During reconstruction, Forell said they were able to enlist the work of the glass and copper companies who originally constructed the mausoleum windows over 80 years prior.

To end the first of the two-day Memorial Day celebration, Shirley Andress will join the Bluegene Brass Quintet to provide a jazzy, 6 p.m. closing to the day in the Public Square at the top of the cemetery hill.

Every year for Memorial Day, the association sets up a table in the Hope Abbey mausoleum offering cake, coffee and conversation.

Forell recalled “the coolest thing that ever happened during a Memorial Day celebration,” one year while she was working the table.

“This fellow came in asking for the administrator,” she said, “he told me, ‘I’m going to write a check for the cemetery,’ I was the one watching him write it. He gave us ten thousand dollars, which was very, very nice. That’s what re-did the floors.”

The cemetery runs its restoration and maintenance operations through grants, donations and money from selling plots.

“The problem is, the place is about to run out of plots, and we will have to find a replacement for that money,” said Forell.

The cemetery also receives community support outside of monetary donations. 

When one of the neighborhood residents moved next to the cemetery in the late 1980s, he found that people would party all night on the roof of the mausoleum and leave a mess around the cemetery. 

“He took it upon himself to start going through the cemetery in the evenings and late at night with his pit bull,” said Forell. He also put pressure on the Masons to hand over the cemetery for restoration.

 “He still lives there and he still walks his dog, even though he’s blind,” said Forell. “I see him on the bike path too, making his way around.”