2020 Winter Improvements

During the winter/early spring months, the Cemetery Department has completed restoration work at the Comey/Cummings lot (lot 43). An early photo shows the basic lay-out of the lot and stones prior to 1881 when Chester Comey died. 

Chester Holbrook Comey was born on February 22, 1832, in Foxboro, Massachusetts. He was educated at Pierce Academy in Middleboro and at Bridgewater Normal School, graduating in the class of 1852. He married Sarah D. Rich on August 27, 1855 in Provincetown, Massachusetts. The couple had four children, only one of whom (Charles Rich Comey, born in 1856) reached adulthood. 

Chester Comey was the Everett School master in South Dedham from 1857 through July, 1863. The family left South Dedham in 1869. In 1880, he was an agent for a fire and life insurance company in Boston. He died on March 31, 1881, in Cambridge at the age of 49. Chester Comey was buried and his grave stone erected in the lot with his children, Frank, Louisa, and Philip.

Some years ago, Comey’s stone was broken and the children’s stones were vandalized and scattered. This winter, after resetting the granite coping, these stones were returned to their original positions. Paul Ranalli even discovered the base of Chester Comey’s stone, which had been removed to the Highland Cemetery basement decades ago. The stone has been repaired and reset. Comey’s newly re-erected stone is now legible and it reads: 

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Chester H. Comey

Born Feb. 22,1832

Died Mar. 31, 1881

He Doeth All Things Well

Behind this stone are the graves of his children: Louisa Greenby Comey (1862-1867); Frank Holbrook Comey (1859-1859); and Philip Robinson Comey (1871-1872). The small gravestone of one of these children is still missing. Comey’s widow, Sarah D. Rich Comey Pevear, who remarried after his death, died in 1907 and is also interred in this plot.

The small stone to the left of the Comey stones belongs to Arthur E. Cummings. He was the son of George S. and Sarah A. Cummings. Arthur was born in 1857 and died in 1861.

We want to thank the entire Cemetery Department, especially Paul Ranalli, Charlie Walsh, Tony Scavotto, and Pete Lefevbre, for all the good work they have done over these winter months. 

Spring 2020

Old Parish Cemetery

March 13, 2020, South Path

May 16, 2020, South Path

We all wish we could spend this Saturday morning at Old Parish Cemetery doing some good work cleaning, repairing, or resetting stones. Still, we wanted you all to know that improvements in the cemetery continued during the winter and early spring thanks to Paul Ranalli and his cemetery crew. 

The barbed wire which had topped the chain link fence for so many years has been removed. The worn and broken asphalt drive between the Washington Street and Railroad Avenue gates has been removed. There will be grass growing there in the coming months. The stone wall and granite markers at the Washington Street entrance have been restored.

The granite copings (the granite “walls” that enclose some lots) which surround the Smith, Winslow, and Comey/Cummings lots have been reset upright. These lots have been leveled and filled with loam, ready for seeding. In addition, water has been restored to the entire cemetery; there are now five water spigots which easily cover all areas of Old Parish.

We want to thank the entire Cemetery Department, especially Paul Ranalli, Charlie Walsh, Tony Scavotto, and Pete Lefevbre, for all the good work they have done over these winter months. Below are photos of these accomplishments.