More than 200 remains to be moved from dilapidated Shawnee mausoleum

By Kilee Thomas

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    SHAWNEE, Oklahoma (KOCO) — Hundreds of Oklahomans laid to rest in a Shawnee mausoleum will soon be moved to a new final resting place.

The mausoleum has been in disarray, keeping families from visiting their loved ones for years. A judge granted the city of Shawnee permission to do something about the problem.

The families of 200 people thought the Fairview Mausoleum would be their final resting place. But after years of neglect, Shawnee leaders said the mausoleum is a health risk.

“Once you lay your loved ones to rest, you are anticipating that they will stay there. So, this is difficult for the families that are involved,” Andrea Weckmueller-Behringer, the city manager of Shawnee, said.

Last week, a court granted the city’s abatement plan to move the 220 entombed from the dilapidated structure. This comes three years after the city locked the doors to the mausoleum, calling it a health risk to the living.

“The building is no longer structurally sound. It was not shielded from the elements for quite some time. The conditions have deteriorated to such a degree that it is not feasible to repair,” Weckmueller-Behringer said.

The privately-owned mausoleum sits abandoned in the middle of the public Fairview Cemetery. The Fairview Mausoleum Association owns the building and doesn’t have the funds for upkeep at the sacred space, according to the city.

“Those poor souls that have been laid to rest there have to be disinterred and reinterred elsewhere,” Weckmueller-Behringer said.

Now, the city attorney’s office is combing through records to contact next of kin for hundreds of Oklahomans laid to rest in the mausoleum, asking where to bury their loved ones.

“In some cases, we have folks that have been there for almost 100 years, and so we don’t know if they have living next of kin,” Weckmueller-Behringer said.

The city of Shawnee said that every soul can be buried at Fairview Cemetery for free. But if their family wants their loved one buried at another location, that service will cost money.

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