City of Shawnee turning to courts to handle crumbling mausoleum

SHAWNEE, Okla. (KFOR) - The city of Shawnee is working to fix what the city has called a danger to the public, the Fairview Mausoleum.

"It is not widely known that the city of Shawnee does not own the mausoleum," said Andrea Weckmueller-Behringer, Shawnee's City Manager.

Although the private and for-profit Fairview Mausoleum sits in the middle of Shawnee's public cemetery, it is owned by the Fairview Mausoleum Association, not the city.

The couple who built the structure around the 1930s passed away, handing down the association to their out-of-state sons.

Funding dried up, neglect set in, while crumbling walls, buckling crypts, broken windows, and mold appeared.

Weckmueller-Behringer said repairs could cost more than $1 million.

Now, the health hazard is behind locked doors.

"There are a lot of loved ones interred in the mausoleum. we have to find a way potentially to re interred them somewhere else," said Weckmueller-Behringer.

These days, 120 families rest behind the green stained glass, like the Dockerys, who can no longer be visited.

"I haven't been able to go in for some time," said Sherill Ball, a relative to the Dockerys. "I have asthma and the mold is so bad inside that it's not really fit for people to go in and be safe."

A couple of years ago, the city and the association struck a deal that didn't last.

"The mausoleum did not hold up their end of the bargain, by virtue of the association trying to roll off all liability on to the city," said Weckmueller-Behringer.

Now, the city is going through the courts so the city can take action and possible move the remains.

"We could not expend any kind of funding on the mausoleum because it would be the gift of public funding to a private entity," said Weckmueller-Behringer.

The city's other primary focus is finding the families. However, that could take months or even years.

News 4 tried to locate the association, but hit a dead end. We asked the city for a good contact, but officials said that's part of the problem, they don't have one.

An Oklahoma address for the association is now a parking lot.