Formation
Bear Creek Cemetery Foundation was officially formed June 26, 2000,
for the purpose of caring for the cemetery.
In Nov 23, 2001 we were granted 501(C)13 status.
We are grateful to the late Judge Dee Brown Walker, who helped us with this process.
The stated mission of the Bear Creek Cemetery Foundation is:
- To care for the graves of early settlers of Collin County and their descendants who are buried in the Bear Creek Cemetery, Collin County, Texas.
- To preserve and maintain such fences and walkways as may be necessary in such care.
- To collect and use such contributions as may be contributed therefore in the care, preservation and maintenance of such graves, walkways and fences.
- To use such other means and methods as the trustees of this corporation may from time to time determine to be appropriate for the accomplishment of these purposes.
The foundation meets
once a year and would like to improve cleaning efforts, erect a new fence,
gates and a sign. Another goal of the foundation is to gradually repair
the many broken markers.
Leadership
As of April 2021 the officers and directors of the Foundation are as follows:
| Officers
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|---|
| President: | JoAnn Brockman Werner
| | Vice President: | Becky Yeager
| | Secretary/Treasurer: | Becky Sander-Cederlof
|
|
|
| Directors
|
|---|
| Bob Sander-Cederlof
| | Greg Lutz
| | Jim Murray
| | Betty Brockman Tyler
| | Tami Brockman Womack
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We are thankful for the long-time support of James Turner, Earl Price, and Mike Turner.
James served until his death in March 2020,
Earl until his death in March 2021,
and Mike until his death in April 2022.
Accomplishments
With generous donations of time and money from a number of families and individuals, and generous grants from the Collin County Historical Commission, we have been able to:
- Obtain a Texas Historical Cemetery designation and marker.
- Erect a beautiful iron fence along the south and east sides of the cemetery.
- Repair or supplement almost all of the grave markers.
- Prepare a map of the cemetery showing all marked graves.
- Regularly mow and clean up the grounds so the cemetery is accessible to visitors.
- Create and maintain this web site.
Future Projects
- We are continuing to mow and clean up the grounds.
- We hope this year (2017) to perform a ground-penetrating radar survey, to discover
and document the unmarked graves.
- We are also attempting to compile a book showing pictures and recording all visible inscriptions for every marked grave.
- We are continuing to improve this web site, and hope to add an interactive map.