BY JOHN DUNPHY
Staff Writer
Girl Scouts Meg Gargano, 13, and Chandler Navara, 12, take down the details from a gravestone while helping with William Stoffers’ Eagle Scout project of cataloging stones at the old cemetery for a database. SOUTH RIVER — For East Brunswick resident Will Stoffers to soar like an Eagle, he first had to perch in the cemetery — Washington Monumental Cemetery, to be exact.
The 17-year-old Boy Scout decided that instead of the property upgrades often sought by Scouts seeking Eagle status, the highest honor a Boy Scout can achieve, he would take stock and form a database of the headstones in the oldest parts of the Hillside Avenue cemetery for the South River Historical Society.
PHOTOS BY FARRAH MAFFAI staff William Stoffers, 17, of East Brunswick, discusses details with his sister, Joy, 12, at the cemetery on Hillside Avenue, South River, on Saturday. According to Will, the records to the older burial plots within the cemetery were lost a number of years ago, which left descendants hard-pressed to locate the final resting places of their family members.
Girl Scouts Christy Sic and Lauren Zdziarski obtained the Gold Award this past summer with a similar project in a section of the cemetery, and Will, with help from other local Boy Scouts as well as Girl Scouts, is now on his way to categorizing the rest of the old section of the cemetery.
Of the approximately 1,500 headstones within Washington Monumental Cemetery, about 1,150 of them are in the old section, Will said.
“We’re trying to restore these records by going through the cemetery and finding out who is buried there,” he said.
Marilyn Anastasio, president of the South River Historical and Preservation Society, said the group had itself begun to categorize the stones in the old part of the cemetery 15 years ago but were unable to finish the task.
Anastasio said once all the stones have been categorized, the information will be put into a database for easy accessibility.
One stone was of particular note — the very first mayor of South River.
“It was something different,” Will said of his decision to categorize the headstones. “Marilyn said I’d be helping a lot of people, so I gave it a shot.”
As for taking this route toward becoming an Eagle Scout, Will said he had no regrets.
A Scout since he was in kindergarten, the East Brunswick High School senior hopes to have the project finished by the end of November, and is looking to study engineering when he heads to college next year.
Reflecting on Scouting and the time he has spent with the troop, Will said, “It’s to help boys turn into good citizens and be good neighbors.”
“I just think it’s commendable they’d consider this a project they would like to do,” Anastasio said. “They are enjoying finding out about the history of these people.”