Job Corps students do much-needed masonry work on sandstone wall at Boxwood Cemetery

Provided photos – (Left) Iroquois Job Corps pre-apprentice students in the International Masonry Institute brick masonry program grind the Medina Sandstone on the wall at Boxwood Cemetery. From left are Michael Whitfield, Imani Palmer and Jayden Sharp. (Right) Iroquois Job Corps’ IMI brick masonry instructor David Gonzalez, right, shows Center director Eric Seppala the technique on how to point and finish the Medina Sandstone wall.

MEDINA – Boxwood Cemetery Commission recently partnered with the Iroquois Job Corps to do much-needed masonry work on the cemetery’s Medina Sandstone wall, preserving it well into the future and saving the Cemetery many dollars.

On June 1, students in the International Masonry Institute’s brick masonry program began work to help restore the historic Boxwood Cemetery’s sandstone wall. The Preservation League of New York state and their program partners at the New York State Council on the Arts helped fund this project, as they have recognized the significance of Boxwood Cemetery, according to information from Job Corps Operations Director John Thomas.

Jacob Hebdon, chairman of Boxwood Cemetery Commission, reached out to Iroquois Job Corps to see if the center could offer any assistance with the project. IMI Brick Instructor David Gonzalez worked with Todd Bensley of Friends of Boxwood Cemetery and village of Medina historian.

Village historian and Friends of Boxwood member Todd Bensley, center, pose with International Masonry Institute pre-apprentice students from the Iroquois Job Corps, Michael Whitfield, left, and Jayden Sharp in front of the sandstone wall they recently repointed.

The students in the Brick Pre-Apprentice Program at Job Corps donated all of their professional brick masonry labor skills to assist with the preservation project at Boxwood Cemetery. The students worked a week, grinding, pointing and re-finishing the sandstone that had been worn down over 175 years and was crumbling in some areas of the wall.

“It has been a pleasure working with Dave Gonzales and his students,” Bensley said. “The quality of their work and their enthusiasm for the project are amazing.”

Bensley said by partnering with Job Corps, the Friends of Boxwood Cemetery has been able to stretch their dollars further, which means they can accomplish more in regards to the restoration of the cemetery.

“The work Job Corps has done repointing the walls will stand for years to come,” Bensley said.