Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
Cohn trust
Trees would be thinned or removed as part of proposed work which may be funded by the Cohn endowment at Goldenrod Cemetery.
A planning meeting took place June 9 with Tekoa Mayor John Jaeger and two of the three city appointees who make up the trustees for Goldenrod Cemetery.
The subject was $2.2 million endowed to the cemetery by the late Eleanor Cohn, a Tekoa accountant/bookkeeper who died in 2009.
Another meeting is planned for July to discuss what needs to happen before the money may be used for the cemetery. The session is expected to include Ted Rasmussen, attorney for trust executor Gloria Rasmussen.
“It will be to find out what’s needed to be done,” said Jaeger.
Cohn originally set the trust up for the care of her daughter Judy. After Judy’s death in 2013, the remaining money was deemed to go to the Goldenrod Cemetery Perpetual Care Endowment Fund. The city subsequently worked to set up an IRS-approved, tax-exempt organization to administer the endowment.
The June 9 meeting was attended by Jaeger, Virginia Heaton and Carol Sturman. Joyce Hanson was not able to be there.
“It’s been several years now, and we knew it was going to take some time,” said Jaeger. “It seems like it’s going forever, but we are inching forward.”
Once the money is clear, the three trustees will direct how it is used at the cemetery. The first project is slated to be removing and trimming trees – an intricate process to avoid disrupting grave markers.
Removing and thinning the tree cover will open more sunlight to grass as well as more root space for trees.
Jaeger estimates that less than 10 full trees would be taken out.
When it will happen remains in question.
“I hope this fall,” Jaeger said.
The city’s Cohn trust board is made up of Hanson, Heaton and city council representative Sturman.
City attorney Stephen Bishop has completed his work for the city on the matter.
“He’s done his part,” said Sturman.“This is what we are hoping to put an end to. To find out why we’re waiting. We don’t know for sure what is holding it up.”
The three trustees will act on behalf of the endowment.
Efforts to reach the Rasmussens for this article were unsuccessful.
Two years ago, after Tekoa first received the endowment, Jaeger directed the city’s engineer, Matt Morkert of Century West, to lay out some options for a long-sought improved water delivery system for the hilltop cemetery.
Morkert presented these to the city council in August, 2015.
The main change would be to replace the two-inch waterline with six-inch pipes.
Jaeger talked then about potentially needing a new booster pump.
As is the nature of an endowment, the town may only use its interest money.
The terms of the trust – which were the subject of a six-year court battle – deemed that, after Judy’s death, the remaining funds would go to the Goldenrod Cemetery Perpetual Care Endowment Fund.
The Tekoa cemetery is operated by the city, as opposed to many others in the county, which are run by cemetery districts. Tekoa’s annual budget for the cemetery is an estimated $14,000, along with earnings from an existing $100,000 in the Goldenrod endowment.
Garth Meyer is a former Whitman County Gazette reporter.
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