Volunteers restore abandoned White Oak cemetery

By Jim Busch
For the Mon Valley Independent
There are two kinds of people.
The first sees a problem, shakes their head and says, “Someone should do something about that.”
The second type of person rolls up their sleeves and says, “I should do something about that.”
Mark Pudlowski falls in the second category.
Pudlowski was driving along Ripple Road in White Oak when he noticed a leaning tombstone in a roadside tangle of weeds. Curious, he parked his car and pushed through the thick growth of Japanese knotweeds and woody shrubs to discover a graveyard.
The worn inscriptions carved on the markers in Hebrew and the names on the stones led Pudlowski to conclude he had stumbled on a long-forgotten Jewish cemetery.
Researching Allegheny County tax records he confirmed the property to be the Ripple Road Jewish Cemetery.
Knowing that he would need help to restore the cemetery he contacted, Daniel Lia, the son of a close friend.
Pudlowski knew that Daniel was looking for a service project as part of the requirements to become an Eagle Scout. Daniel is a student at Norwin Senior High School where he is a member of the Air Force Junior ROTC.
Daniel enthusiastically took on the challenge of restoring the graveyard. The two men began marshaling resources for the project.

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