Lee and Wann Cemetery caretakers form LLC

GRAVETTE — Both the Lee and Wann Cemeteries, located west of Gravette in what was once the thriving community of Beaty, are the final resting places of many of western Benton County’s founding families.

Lee Cemetery is located on the east side of Beaty Road, approximately 3.7 miles north of Highway 72, and Wann Cemetery is located on the south side of the road, approximately 3.2 miles west of Beaty Road on Honey Creek Road.

From their formation, both cemeteries operated much like other rural cemeteries in northwest Arkansas where family members of those buried on the site were the literal caretakers of the cemetery. As years went by and the cemeteries grew, the care likely became too much for the original few caretakers and both cemeteries began to fall to neglect.

In 1947, a group of local ladies from the community of Beaty set about reclaiming the cemeteries and formed a group called the Northwest Extension Homemakers Club. The group cared for the cemeteries for years by collecting donations from those who came to the cemeteries to remember their loved ones and using those donations to pay for mowing and other maintenance. These meager donations often did not even cover the mowing, which left the group members to dip into their own pockets to pay for upkeep.

Since the establishment of the cemeteries, no one has been charged for burial plots at either one. However, the Arkansas Cemetery Act for Perpetually Maintained Cemeteries requires that all cemeteries be well maintained by the governing body of the cemetery. The state directs that a portion of plot sales be set aside for maintenance, which never had been done at Lee Cemetery. To bring the cemetery into compliance with state requirements, a nonprofit called Lee/Wann Cemetery LLC was formed in March 2020 and began charging for plots.

Recent donations have helped the 501(c)(3) reach its halfway mark of establishing a self-funding account that will provide perpetual maintenance services and address other cemetery needs such as monument restoration.

Anyone interested in learning about how they can help the cemeteries through their donations may contact one of the cemetery board members, Dwayne Craig, Jed Harris, Tim Craig, Jane Wilber, Anita Young, Jay Oliphant or Steve Mitchael. Tim Craig, Lee Cemetery treasurer, can be reached at 14199 Beaty Road, Gravette, AR 72736.