On December 4, 1908, a group of 30 local citizens met and agreed to form a corporation under the name of “The Norborne Cemetery Association” to operate for a term of 50 years with the purpose of operating a cemetery business. On December 28, 1908, the corporation was approved by the Missouri Secretary of State. The first meeting of the stockholders was held on January 8, 1909. On January 11,1909, ten acres of land was purchased from Ben F. Brown for $3,000. Each of the stockholders (30) purchased 1 share of stock in the company at a face value cost of $100. Over the next 17 years, dividends and interest were regularly paid out to the stockholders. In addition, there were payments made towards the reduction of the face value of their stockholdings. On January 21, 1925, it was agreed that a final payment of $15.20 per share be paid to the remaining stockholders to liquidate the remaining face value while allowing each stockholder to retain $1.00 in face value for each share in order to keep the corporation in working order. All rights to any future interest and/or dividend payments were waived.
On August 1, 1958, at the end of the 50-year term of the corporation, 22 shareholders voted to dissolve the current corporation and transfer all assets to “The Norborne Cemetery Association, Incorporated” a non-profit organization. On August 29, 1958, the Article of Incorporation for the non-profit organization was approved by the State of Missouri. On September 23, 1958, the Article of Dissolution for the original corporation was recorded with the State of Missouri and the assets transferred to the non-profit.
With the cost of inflation and the ever-increasing size of the cemetery to be cared for, the cost for maintaining the cemetery was beginning to become a concern. Up to this point, the only source of revenue was from the sale of grave spaces. On July 20, 1966, the board met and decided to start a campaign asking for donations to start an endowment fund. Letters were sent to representatives of all current lot and burial site owners with a goal of raising $40,000. This initial campaign only resulted in $6,698. This letter campaign was repeated over the course of several years following with varying success rates. In addition to this, at the November 30, 1966 board meeting, the board added perpetual care fees to the purchase price of grave spaces. The perpetual care fees are put into the endowment fund as opposed to the general operating fund.
Fast forward to today and we still operate under this model. The only money available for the payment of maintenance expenses are the amounts received from the sale of grave spaces and any interest earned from the endowment funds. We make every effort to try and keep your cemetery maintained while staying within this budget. If forced to dip into the principal of the endowment funds, that just starts a downward spiral that gets worse each year. And at some point, there won’t be any more grave spaces to be sold so there won’t be any new revenue. So if you’d like to help ensure the upkeep of this cemetery where your loved ones are buried for centuries to come, please consider donating.