RAVENNA, Ohio — At Maple Grove Cemetery in Ravenna, there are about 17,000 grave sites.
Many of them are clearly marked as the final resting spots for veterans, and that's how it should be, according to Ravenna resident Christine Untrauer.
She has made it her mission to locate the unmarked graves of veterans in Portage County and then find the funding to install markers to honor them.
"I get this tap on my shoulder that says, 'Don't forget about me. I'm a veteran. Don't forget about me.' And, I really believe this is a calling for me," Untrauer said.
Military service runs in Untrauer's family. Her father, Norbert Freund, served in the Navy aboard the USS Topeka during World War II. Her retired husband, Patrick, spent 20 years in the Air Force.
"It's so near and dear to my heart," Untrauer said.
It's so dear to her heart that Untrauer requested records that show all of the people buried at Maple Grove.
As she was doing research last summer, she discovered the unmarked grave of Army Private First Class Willie Ross Dennis, who died in Vietnam in 1968.
"He enlisted in the service and died within a month of being there," Untrauer said.
Untrauer knew that had to change. She worked with the Ravenna American Legion Post, which paid for a military marker to be installed at Dennis's grave site.
A few months later, she helped organize a dedication ceremony for the marker.
"I never knew him, but it's just, he was killed in Vietnam," Untrauer said.
Her efforts didn't stop there. She created the Veteran's Grave Marker Project with the goal of getting markers for all unmarked graves of veterans at Portage County cemeteries.
She has found 49 so far, including 42 at Maple Grove. Fundraising is helping to pay for the installations, which cost about $100 per marker.
"We had a chili cook-off with the Elks Lodge and we raised enough to mark 42 graves," Untrauer said.
In an area of the cemetery known as a Potter's Field, hundreds of people are buried, and only a few marked graves are marked.
Untrauer found that at least four vets from the Civil War are buried in that section. She has prioritized getting markers for those 19th-century veterans.
The project is very meaningful to cemetery superintendent Mark Gabriel. His great great grandfather, Loren Cummings, served in the Civil War and is buried in a marked grave at Maple Grove.
"She's really making a project of it and doing a nice job," Gabriel said. "It gives me joy to see them finally get marked."
Untrauer's said her work continues, and she's hoping to find all of the unmarked graves of veterans at 29 Portage County cemeteries and through her project, get them marked.
"These are the people who gave us our freedom," she said. "We can't let these people have died in vain and no veteran should ever lay in an unmarked grave."
A fundraiser for the Veteran's Grave Marker Project is scheduled for May 3 at the Ravenna Elks Lodge #1076. All proceeds will cover the installation of the markers.
Tickets are $20 per person and sales will continue through April 27 or when sold out.
