BRIAN NICHOLSON/Standard-Examiner IMPROVED MARKERS: Jackie Westergard looks over some gravemarkers that were recently repaired at the Ogden City Cemetery. Volunteers will care for Ogden headstones First annual "Pioneer Cemetery Day" planned to improve conditions By DAVID TROESTER Standard-Examiner staff OGDEN - Moses Tracy never contemplated his final resting place would be in Ogden. He never thought joining the LDS Church in 1830's New York would bring him thousands of miles across frontier wilderness, settling in an area that later became Marriott, today known as Marriott-Slaterville. Neither did he contemplate his headstone in Ogden City Cemetery would one day be broken off at the base. "It was a very old, red sandstone and so it was brittle, so we had it reset in cement," said Jackie Westergard, great-great-granddaughter to Tracy. She believes city crews in February accidentally broke the stone with heavy equipment used for burials. A tire rut can be seen direct BRIAN NICHOLSON/Standard-Examiner NEED REPAIR: A couple of gravemarkers in need of repair lie on the grass at the Ogden City Cemetery. ly next to the head stone. The city denies responsibility. Westergard and a group of volunteers will honor pioneers buried in the cemetery - like Tracy, who helped establish the first irrigation in Weber County - this Saturday at the first annual "Pioneer Cemetery Day." As many as 100 volunteers are expected. The group will work from 8 a.m. to noon to lift, straighten and clean head stones in the three western blocks of the 54-acre cemetery. Dirt will be delivered to fill low spots and weeds and unsightly grass will be trimmed. Buried in the cemetery are John Moses Browning, who invented the Browning automatic rifle and founded Browning Firearms; Lorin Farr, the first mayor of Ogden; Thomas Marsh, the one-time LDS apostle who turned against church founder Joseph Smith but later reconciled with the church, and John Marriott, grandfather to J. Willard Marriott, founder of the Marriott chain of hotels. The cemetery has been a point of controversy in recent months. Residents have complained cemetery care is not up to par and vandals have decimated and destroyed stones. Westergard and her group seek to help fill voids where care may be lacking. "I think we hope to instill in people a sense of volunteerism along with Pioneer Days because the cemetery really needs some help to upgrade," she said. Sponsors of the event include Marriott Heritage Foundation, Ogden City Cemetery and See CEMETERY/7B