A Civil War soldier, buried in an unmarked grave in Orleans County, will receive a tombstone this spring with help from two Albion Central School District (ACS) students.
Earlier this week, Kendall Peruzzini and Mary McCormick, both eighth-graders attending Albion Middle School (AMS), and Tim Archer, Service Learning liaison, were notified that the Department of Veterans Affairs had approved their request for a headstone recognizing Daniel Walterhouse.
According to the VA, in the coming weeks, the 250 lb. headstone will be sent to the Orleans Department of Transportation for storage until the spring.
Since the students addressed the Orleans County Legislature earlier this month, the project has taken on a life of its own – attracting both local and national attention.
“My favorite part of this whole project was the day we discovered that we had found him,” McCormick said. “We had been searching through dusty books and learning to read the old handwriting and it was exciting to see that it all paid off.”
Now, Peruzzini, McCormick, and the AMS Social Studies Department are getting to work planning and organizing a ceremony to install the headstone at the Orleans County Alms House Cemetery.
“It’s important to recognize Daniel Walterhouse and all that he went through during his time in the service” Peruzzini said. “He was captured and injured and he shouldn’t be forgotten.”
For Archer, a former teacher with ACS, this student engagement is what it is all about.
“Projects like these, getting them out of the classroom and bringing history to life, makes it all the more personal,” Archer explained. “Whenever they [the students] are out in the community, learning hands-on, they are developing their character and discovering lessons bigger than themselves.”
While an official date for the installation of the headstone has yet to be set, the girls are tentatively looking to schedule the ceremony for Memorial Day weekend.