Since 1855, more than 250 veterans of the Blackhawk through Vietnam wars, plus other "peacetime veterans," have been buried at Ephraim's two cemeteries.

This Memorial Day, if everything goes as scheduled, they will receive permanent and public "thank you" when plaques containing their names are unveiled at both locations.

A lot of changes have occurred over the past 10-15 years as dedicated volunteers on the Ephraim Cemetery Board have worked to upgrade the Ephraim Pioneer Cemetery, located about three miles northeast of town, and the Ephraim Park Cemetery on the north end of Main Street.

In many ways, the memorials represent a capstone on those efforts.

The first Ephraim settlers buried their dead at the Spring City Cemetery about seven miles away. In 1855, a funeral party was traveling to Spring City when riders approached to warn of Indian trouble ahead.

The party stopped in its tracks and buried the deceased. That's how the Ephriam Pioneer Cemetery got started.

But the location wasn't ideal. It was subject to flooding, and several times, water washed through and scrambled the markers. Today, it's difficult to tell who is buried where.

But Martha Olsen, an Ephriam Middle School teacher and member of the cemetery board for more than a decade, has compiled an authoritative list of the 2,000 plus people buried in the cemetery.

The Ephraim Park Cemetery was established in 1901. Early in cemetery development, a gazebo will built as a shelter where mourners could visit or get out of a rainstorm.

By the early 2000s, many people were focusing on the historic gazebo. It had deteriorated to the point where it was no longer an attractive public facility. Finally, it was boarded and used to store maintenance equipment.

A historic preservation group raised some money to restore it. But city staff concluded it wasn't salvageable. The wood on the structure was rotting and the floors were caving in, says City Manager Richard Anderson.

The cemetery board and city council decided to build a new, high-quality gazebo. The structure, which cost about $45,000, was completed prior to Memorial Day, 2006.

The new gazebo has inlaid wood on the inside of the roof, and the exterior walls are faced with oolite stone, the same type of stone used on the Manti LDS temple. Benches have been placed against each exterior wall.

The gazebo has eight sides, two of which are open. That leaves two three-sided wall panels. From the beginning, the plan was to use one three-sided area for a veteran's memorial-such as the one now being completed.

The other three-sided panel is being reserved for a cemetery map and cemetery administrative information. The design for those materials hasn't been finalized.

The names of veterans interred in the park cemetery are being engraved on 1-foot-square tiles. The memorial will be completed by placing the tiles tightly together on the gazebo walls. Space will be left for adding names. A spotlight in the center of the roof will illuminate the memorial.

Over the past year, Councilwoman Elaine Reid, the city council liaison with the cemetery board, and board members, have raised about $8,000 for the memorial, which is expected to cost $12,000-$13,000. The city is covering the balance of the cost.

Meanwhile, they've gathered and verified the names of veterans interred in the park cemetery and the wars in which they fought.

The city and cemetery board have worked on administrative improvements as well. The city has purchased a database program called the Cemetery Information Management System, which stores information about each cemetery plot such as plot owner, name of the person buried there, death date, burial date and, importantly, the global positioning satellite (GPS) coordinates for the plot.

The city has been transferring decades of hand-written records to the computer system. Eventually, the database will be posted on the Internet.

City Manager Anderson says he would like to built a kiosk containing a computer and screen that visitors can use to look up information. The kiosk could be placed at the park cemetery at special times, such as Memorial Day.

Meanwhile, Richard Stevens, an Ephraim businessman who has been on the cemetery board since its inception, has drafted a new cemetery ordinance, which is now pending before the city council.

There's been a lot of activity at the pioneer cemetery, too.

In 2005, James Painter of Nephi, who owns car dealerships in Nephi and St. George, visited the cemetery, where some of his ancestors are buried. He was distressed to find the only ground cover was weeds and cheetgrass.

Painter donated $15,000, which has been used to sterlize the ground to keep weeds down, cover about half of the property with gravel, plant 45 trees and install a gate so the cemetery can be locked at night.

Meanwhile, a designed proposed by an Eagle Scout candidate became the springboard for an informational display and veteran's memorial at the pioneer cemetery. That structure, too, is scheduled for completion by Memorial Day.

The design is a take-off of sorts on the "Welcome to Manti" signs at each end of Manti. The structure has a horizontal base, two square posts and a sign between the posts that will contain cemetery information.

A podium will rise from center of the base where a binder can be left containing names of people buried and grave locations where known.

The base and posts will be faced with oolite. Plaques about 1-square-foot in size will be inset at eye level on the backs and fronts the square support posts containing the names of 26 Blackhawk War veterans interred at the cemetery.

The cemetery board has raised about $3,500 for the project but needs at least $2,000 more, Reid says.

Special Memorial Day observances are planned at both cemeteries to mark completion of the memorials. But, Councilwoman Reid says, people have told her that the important thing is that their veteran relatives are finally being recognized.

"So many people are so pleased that we're doing something," she says.