DUKE CENTER — The newly-formed Otto Township Cemetery Association received a “welcome present” of six lots in the Rixford cemetery from a lifelong Rixford resident and former caretaker of the cemetery.

Octogenarian Milford Cottrell had purchased several lots for family members who have long since moved out of the area. Along with this bestowment, Cottrell shared with the 13 members and guests photographs of improvements he made by installing concrete bases under several grave markers. His dedication and labor is greatly appreciated and embodies the committee’s vision of a model citizen and dedicated volunteer.

Along with recruiting some successors of Cottrell, the association has the equally daunting task of reviewing, updating and correcting the incredibly incomplete and inaccurate records of burials at both the Rixford and Duke Center grounds. Both locations have been utilized by the township’s population since the 1800s, with several Civil War veterans among the interred. Along with the yellowed and brittle original mapping, penciled on window shades (larger than any paper available at the time), the members will utilize the more up-to-date World Wide Web, along with recent inclusions to the necrological records, high school history projects that were completed in recent years, aerial photos and some hands-on “leg” work — comparing headstones and markers with the maps, reconciling, amending and verifying the records to accurately represent and pay the proper respect to those interred.

The association is proceeding toward the goal of having two cemeteries that are well-kept, both maintenance-wise and record-wise.

The next meeting will be held at 7 p.m. Oct. 18 at the Duke Center United Methodist Church.