I would like to extend my heartfelt appreciation to City Council member Erika Plishka.

Last week, I drove my 93-year-old father from Charlottesville, Virginia, to visit his 96-year-old brother in Waverly, Ohio. On the way, my dad wanted to visit the gravesites of his grandfather, mother, father, brother and sister at Maplewood Cemetery in Elkins.

My dad was pretty sure he knew where the graves were located. The only entrance we knew of was chain-locked, so we climbed under the chain and began looking. After several hours in 95 degree weather, in a very hilly cemetery, my poor dad was in tears, and done looking.

It broke my heart, so in hopes of obtaining more information, I called City Clerk Sutton Stokes, who immediately put me in touch with Council member Erika Plishka. Within minutes, she emailed me with information, suggestions, and advice.

But, even more impressive, she actually took it upon herself to go to Maplewood to search for the gravesites — not once, but twice! The next day, we received photos of each of the gravesites we were looking for.

While we weren’t able to get back to the cemetery on this trip, we now have very explicit instructions on how to locate the gravesites — and my dad cherishes the photos she sent.

As a side note, one of the graves we were trying to locate was my great-grandfather, Herman G. Johnson. Unbeknownst to Ms. Plishka, he was the editor (1898) and then owner (1902-1924) of this very newspaper, The Inter-Mountain! He also served as a State Senator in 1918.

I know he would have been impressed with Ms. Plishka’s persistence. And her kind deed is something I will never forget. Elkins is well-represented!

Kimberley Johnson Shafran

Amissville, Virginia