Running a cemetery is a solemn duty, taken seriously by those who do it, and each cemetery approaches the task a little different.

At Summit Cemetery in Jefferson Township, incorporated with Summit Presbyterian Church on Jan. 11, 1869, Terry Dean has been secretary of the cemetery association for 20 years.

“I also mow and assist with burials on top of being the secretary,” she said. “You don't just get one hat with our cemetery.”

And she isn't the only one. Each member of the cemetery's five member board — all church members are appointed by the other board members when someone steps down — pitch in.

One board member is contracted to dig graves. The board president and treasurer trim weeds, and Dean and another member close the graves following interment. It is up to monument companies to create and place headstones as well as the concrete foundations that ensure the markers don't tip over.

“We basically just do the perpetual care. We like to wait about six months to allow the ground to settle so that we can put topsoil on and reseed the grass,” Dean said.

North Side Cemetery in Butler is run by a 14-member board, each of whom was appointed by other board members based on their interest and qualifications in business finance/administration, according to cemetery superintendent George Olenic.

The 150-year-old cemetery has a chapel and office building, barn and about eight mausoleums on its 55-acres. About 9,500 people are interred there.

As with most of Butler County's more than 200 cemeteries, graves are about six feet deep and caskets are encased in concrete or metal vaults.

“Prior to the mid-1950s, it was just a wooden box. (Vaults likely became necessary) because of the decay of the wood through the years where, naturally, with the cement and metal, that does not happen,” Olenic said.

“By law, there must be a certain amount of cover over the vault. Right now, that's why it is dug six feet. With the casket and vault, you are left with about two feet of dirt coverage on the ground.”

Summit Cemetery has about 600 plots and handles about 12 burials a year, all Summit Presbyterian Church congregation members as of about 10 years ago when the cemetery was closed to the public as remaining plots began to dwindle.

“The cemetery itself was laid out long before I started doing this. Graves are basically four feet wide, then every so often, there is a seven-foot walkway up through the cemetery. Other than that walkway, it's graves right beside each other,” Dean said.

Grave markers also are as varied as the families whose loved ones are interred.

“We have one section of the cemetery that contains upright markers, then there's two sections the have to be flat markers,” Dean said of Summit Cemetery.

“It seems, recently, we have been doing more cremations than in the past. Those have no regulation as far as being in anything. We bury some in the urn and we've buried some in the cardboard box that comes from the crematory.”

Olenic said North Side Cemetery, too, has sections for upright and flat markers, as well as a military veterans section where graves are marked by an additional memorial provided by the county veterans services office and detail the individual's service.

“The military plaque, usually bronze, is usually placed at the foot of the grave, though sometimes it is moved down about 12 inches. A lot of people like to plant flowers at the foot of the stone marker. Some cemeteries do not permit planting, but we do. We feel it is vital to the family,” Olenic said.

“With cremations, it's law that it must be in a container to bury the remains. A lot of people may scatter ashes elsewhere, but if it's in a cemetery, it must be in a sealed container.”

Olenic said he is yet to see a grave marker in North Side Cemetery with a video memorial, but he has seen an increase in the popularity of both etched markers and those with a solar-powered light.

“They laser a lot of (photographs) in now. It's very, very nice,” Olenic said, describing one memorial with an image of a husband and wife, avid golfers both, walking down the links together, and another with images of race cars.

“(The solar-powered lights), they are just recently coming into play. There have been two or three installed here recently,” he said.