News

The graves that may truly rest in peace

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Shen-Chia Chu
  • 436th AW Public Affairs
DOVER AIR FORCE BASE, Del. --  A rededication and re-committal ceremony was held at a cemetery south of Dover Air Force Base May 1.

Base leadership, local and base clergy, and family members of the deceased were present at the re-committal ceremony at John Wesley African Methodist Episcopal Cemetery.

"In honoring their final resting place - we honor their lives, their dreams and their aspirations," said the Rev. Dr. Charles Drummer, Jr., presiding elder of the Wilmington District Delaware Annual Conference African Methodist Episcopal Church. "In this act of dedication we celebrate their consecrated lives and their steadfast faith in the providence of God."

The Reverend Drummer said the hallowed ground contained the remains of those who fought a war to save the union, he said. "They fought a war to end all wars."

The burial ground was originally purchased for the church and associated cemetery by black parishioners in 1867.

The church was closed in 1940 due to a decline in participation and the building was demolished in 1950. There were more than 100 grave markers in the cemetery, but its grounds lay untended and unused until the property was purchased by Dover AFB in 1990.

"It's great to see what has been done to honor the descendents in my church and helping to connect the past with the present," said the Rev. Alice Ervin, pastor of Whatcoat U.M. Church in Dover. "There are some descendents here today, honoring their family buried here."

One particular family member honored his great-grandmother's grave by performing a Native American purification ceremony.

"I honored my ancestors and the spirits by providing a meal for the departed," said Jose Luis, Woodside resident and descendent of Rachel Demby.

Mr. Luis scattered apple and orange peels, sweet tobacco, sage and other ingredients for the ceremony to honor the sacred ground of the grave site.

"My family and I have been coming out to this cemetery for several years," said Mr. Luis. "I can see that the base has shown a great deal of respect. We really appreciate all they've done in restoring and preserving this site."

The 436th Civil Engineer Squadron Environmental Flight conducted numerous studies of the cemetery, including archaeological investigations, gravestone conservation, grounds clearing and maintenance, and is currently in the process of proposing the site be listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Guests laid bright pink and red carnations on the casket after the Reverend Ervin ended the ceremony with a prayer, asking to bring the peace of God onto the graves.

"We pray that generations unborn will take increased devotion to their noble cause; to lift a people recently delivered from slavery, to forgive those who oppressed them and to reconcile all the people of our nation and our world," said the reverend, and ended with the words of the old slave song. "Fair thee well, fair thee well. Until that great getting up in morning, fair thee well. Amen."