EAST LIVERPOOL — Riverview Cemetery has had a new superintendent effective at the beginning of the month.

When members met May 28, Helen Stenger stepped down as superintendent, a position that she has held since 1985.

According to President Marc D. Hoffrichter, Christine Bell, who has been with Riverview since 2013, will assume the superintendent’s role.

Stenger’s resignation marked 79 years of family service to the cemetery, succeeding her husband upon his death. He had taken over from his grandfather in 1959.

Hoffrichter also announced that the cemetery hired additional work staff beginning May 17, and he directed them to work weekends and on Memorial Day. As a result, in spite of the frequency of work-delaying rains in recent weeks, the cemetery grounds have been greatly improved, toward restoring them to the quality of maintenance which the Members and families of those interred have come to expect, and for which Riverview has long been known.

Hoffrichter said the larger crew size will be continued until he is fully satisfied with the condition of the grounds, and that he has authorized the purchase of some additional and better equipment to better battle the rain-induced fast-growing grass.

The members and directors of the 136-year-old Riverview Cemetery Association, 2026 St. Clair Ave., East Liverpool, voted for continuity of leadership at their annual meeting, held Tuesday, May 28, 2019 at the Grand Army of the Republic Memorial Chapel (erected 1897).

Hoffrichter will continue as president and Jackman Vodrey as secretary-treasurer, while Dr. Robert J. Walker will replace Judith Dunlap as vice president. Dunlap and Arthur Doak were elected to serve on the Executive Committee along with the above four officers, plus the superintendent.

Fifty members were person in person with five others voting by proxy. Three regular members were absent.

In addition to Hoffrichter and Vodrey, J. David Conley, Frank C. Dawson and D. Terrence O’Hara were re-elected as directors, for three-year terms expiring in 2022. Doak and Dunlap are in the midst of current terms through May 2020 along with J. David Buzzard, Marilyn A. Parkes, and Robert J. Walker whose terms will expire in May 2020 and Timothy R. Brookes, Michael S. DiLoreto, S. Tait Hilbert, Charles B. Lang and William L. Miller whose terms will expire in May 2021.

Nineteen grave spaces were sold in 2018, and there were 70 interments, bringing the number of burials to 17,877 since the 1883 organization of the cemetery.

The general endowment and specific endowment gifts, received over the past 135 years, have grown in value, with the fair market value of investment funds held in the combined capital account, to be used for perpetual care, standing at $996,310 as of Dec. 31.

In addition to traditional below-ground burials, Riverview has columbaria niches available in the 1897 Grand Army of the Republic Memorial Chapel plus separate outdoor sections have been set aside for flat marker and pet burials. Prices are available by calling the superintendent at 330-385-9262.