Sweet Auburn: The Magazine of the Friends of Mount Auburn Mount Auburn as a Horticultural Innovator | Page 18

People and Happenings Mount Auburn also welcomes new staff to two other departments. Since April, Melinda Moulton is our new Accounting Manager. She brings to our staff a solid skill set and extensive experience as a Staff Accountant, self- employed CPA, and business manager. Her most recent position was Assistant Controller at CAST Inc., a non-profit research and development company in Wakefield, Mass., that provides learning opportunities for all individuals, especially those with disabilities, through UDL (Universal Design for Learning). Cemetery Services also has a new Representative, Edie Shapiro. Edie’s background includes editorial and fundraising work. Outside of Mount Auburn, she writes poetry and is a member of The Boston Minstrels, a group that sings at homeless shelters. her a valuable colleague. She has also been engaged in the larger community outside our gates, both personally and professionally, proving to be a valuable ambassador for the Cemetery.” Natalie is proud of her accomplishments at Mount Auburn, mostly in the number of volunteers that have been recruited who can do the work in documenting our structures through the Monument Inscription Workshop. When she first recommenced the program, there was no one helping to decode and transcribe fading inscriptions, and now there are approximately 15 volunteers who are capable of endeavoring in that work. “I will miss the beauty of the landscape and the passion of the people who work and volunteer here,” Natalie said weeks before she departed. “Because there are so many facets of Mount Auburn, there’s always something new to learn.” Natalie’s departure is a bittersweet one, and while she will be missed by all who have had the pleasure of collaborating with her, we welcome back Gus Fraser, former Director of Preservation & Facilities Maintenance. Gus had been Preservation & Facilities Planner Natalie Wampler here for just under seven years, and he hired Natalie right said good-bye to her Mount Auburn family this August. before he left to relocate to North Carolina in 2006 so that Her husband, Keith, accepted a post-doctoral position his wife could take a research position at Research Triangle at the University of Illinois and the couple has relocated Institute. While in North Carolina he ran his own company there. Natalie graduated in 2005 from Maryville University doing hands-on restoration in St. Louis, Mo., and in 2008 and preservation work. The from Boston University with a work M.A. in Preservation Studies. ranged from monument She was hired in May 2006 as repair in historic cemeteries a Preservation Intern, and was to carpentry and wood- later brought on full-time in working in old houses. her current position. He utilized experience We have been able to discover gained at Mount Auburn much about our landscape working with historic cast through Natalie’s diligent and and wrought iron fences meticulous work. During the during a project preserving Preservation Initiative in 2007, two mid-19th century she was able to determine fences at the Old Chapel that we have approximately Hill Cemetery in Chapel 45,000 monuments on the Gus Fraser and Natalie Wampler contemplate the preservation of a Hill, N.C. Much of his Cemetery grounds; she created monument. preservation work was for a full inventory of all our path historic house museums and avenue signs as well as or other non-profit organizations charged with the care of our veteran markers; and she resurrected our Monument historic structures. Inscription Workshop, teaching volunteers how we decode “Although I grew up in North Carolina and have strong deteriorated inscriptions so that they can help to record ties to the area, we missed New England and looked forward and preserve this valuable information before it is lost to to one day returning,” he remarked during his first week the elements. back at Mount Auburn. “I feel very fortunate to have been “In her relatively short time here, Natalie’s contributions chosen to fill the Director of Facilities position, and I am to our success as a department, and to Mount Auburn as a excited for the opportunity to return to an organization whole have been tremendous,” says Vice President of Pres- full of dedicated and creative people committed to the ervation & Facilities Bill Barry. “Her rigorous analysis, preservation and enhancement of this vital and unique disciplined organization, and collaborative manner made historic landscape.” Hello Good-bye: Employment at Mount Auburn Comes Full Circle 16 | Sweet Auburn