FAIRBURY, NE — Right now, you might be in for a bumpy ride if you visit the Fairbury Cemetery.

But that could be changing soon. The Fairbury Cemetery Association has started a fundraising campaign to finance repaving the roads through the cemetery.

“(The roads have) really deteriorated badly," donor Barry Denney said. "So our next project is let’s rebuild the roads and fix it up so that when people come to visit those that have gone before us, they’ll be comfortable driving their car out here.”

Association members thanked major donors, including Barry Denney and Bob Hose, at their meeting on Wednesday. Thanks to significant donations, there’s already $100,000 in the roads fund. They’re looking to raise another $300,000.

“Any amount will help us," Denney said. "We want to continue to build a fund that will grow and allow us to really make the roads perfect.”

Road improvement is the second major cemetery project in the last year. Denney donated funds for the cemetery’s first columbarium, a structure that provides a resting place for cremated remains. He worked on the project with board member Charley Endorf.

“I discussed it with him and he found a place in Canada that builds these columbariums," Denney said. "The results was all we needed was some money.”

Seeing the new columbarium got Hose and others thinking they could tackle the roads problem next. They hope to start work on the cemetery’s three main arterial roads in the spring. The repaving will take five or six weeks.

For the donors and board members, their work is about honoring those who built Fairbury.

“They’re the ones that came before us - me - an opportunity to go to Fairbury High School and have a wonderful beginning education," Denney said. "Those are the people that are buried here that I owe everything to.”

Donations are tax deductible and can be made online at https://www.fairburycemetery.org/home.