Lombard Scout leads cleanup effort to earn Eagle rank

For Lombard Boy Scout Matthew Kaefer, choosing a service project to complete his last requirement to earn Boy Scouts’ highest rank, Eagle, wasn’t hard.

Over the years as a Boy Scout in Lombard’s Troop 202, Matthew, a student at Montini Catholic High School in Lombard and son of Jeanne and Fred Kaefer, saw many projects that needed attention. The one that stood out for him was a project at Lombard Cemetery at Main Street and Washington Boulevard.

Originally called Babcock’s Grove Cemetery in 1851, the cemetery includes the unmarked graves of 10 soldiers who fought in the War of 1812, the Civil War and World War I. The Lombard Veterans of Foreign Wars was raising funds to replace the headstones.

The cemetery also had been overgrown with weeds over the years and was in need of landscaping and debris removal.

Working with the village, Lombard Historical Society and the Lombard VFW, Matthew organized a large group of volunteers from his troop and community to cut weeds, replace soil and grass, trim brush, apply mulch and groom the grounds on May 25 for the Memorial Day program at the cemetery. Matthew organized this project to honor the fallen veterans buried there, which completed his last requirement to earn Boy Scouts’ highest rank.