From Paper to Phone: Auburn Cemetery Data May Soon Go Digital
A new computer program to assist the Auburn Township cemetery sexton would also give families and visitors an easy way to find graves and possibly access occupant histories through a phone app.
A new computer program to assist the Auburn Township cemetery sexton would also give families and visitors an easy way to find graves and possibly access occupant histories through a phone app.
Lorraine Sevich, administrative assistant, told Auburn Township Trustees Jan. 19 that she attended a presentation by the Geauga County Auditor’s Office team explaining the program.
“I was really impressed with it,” she said. “They will input all our information for our desktops and residents can download an application, see different cemeteries. If you were shopping for a cemetery, you would be able to see the names of people buried there.”
The app, which uses geographic information system technology, would help researchers locate graves and save the sexton and visitors from wandering around with a paper map, Sevich said.
“It will give you directions,” she said. “I love the part where residents can easily access it. Everything would be on your phone.”
Fiscal Officer Dan Matsko echoed her enthusiasm.
“You can add information through (the Geauga County Automated Data Processing board) or the township. The best thing for me is when they said it was free,” he said.
Trustee P.J. Cavanagh said a team of three programmers is in charge of the project and already input data for Hambden Township.
“They were very aggressive at pursuing the one cemetery,” he said, adding the Shadyside Cemetery is not as symmetrically laid out as the Hambden cemetery.
“We’re not reinventing the wheel,” Cavanagh said.
The team is expected to attend the Feb. 2 trustees meeting to answer questions before trustees make a decision, he said.
Township sexton Michael Ludwig currently uses Crypt Keeper software, Sevich said.
Trustee Mike Troyan said the new system should be an improvement.
“The information we have now is a hodge-podge,” he said.
Matsko added that Geauga County Auditor Chuck Walder said the program would be provided free to any township using the UAN system.
Auburn Township has a UAN module but does not currently use it, he said.
Sevich said she previously used UAN while working in Newbury Township.
“We would be the next project,” she said, adding the cemetery program would bring even the oldest headstone into the 21st century.
“You can put little QR codes on it,” she said. “Anybody can read about this person. You can do that on your plot.”
She noted township officials would have to approve all information.
Cavanagh said the data the UAN team would need exists on the sexton’s laptop and on paper.
Trustee Riley Davis said he contacted Ludwig on Jan. 5 about accessing the data.
“I asked him because I know there is nothing in his office,” Davis said. “There’s been no reply from anybody. I’m still really confused why we don’t have any of our data and I’m not getting any answers. We still don’t have data from the last decade.”
Cavanagh said a deed book contains every grave and its location.
“Where is the deed book?” Matsko asked, adding he was surprised to learn, upon reviewing the Ohio Revised Code, that it is the township fiscal officer’s responsibility to maintain cemetery records.
The code does not mention a sexton, although trustees can appoint three cemetery directors, he said.
“I guess you guys decide,” he said.
Troyan asked whether trustees need a sexton or someone in the office to handle cemetery services.
Cavanagh said Auburn had 15 burials in 2025, installed 13 headstones or foundations, and completed nine transactions totaling 15 plots sold.
“It’s not a full-time job,” he said.
In other business, trustees voted to spend $1,403 for a membership with Chagrin River Watershed Partners.
