HAC Jazz concert benefits historic Riverside Cemetery
- Jan 3
- 3 min read
A select group of musicians with ties to Hannibal assembled at the Hannibal Arts Council on the evening of Dec. 21, 2025, for a dual purpose.
First: To provide quality jazz entertainment for music lovers of all ages just prior to Christmas, and
Second: To raise money for improvements to, and upkeep of, Hannibal’s historic Riverside Cemetery.
The sold-out Christmas season concert, Hot Holiday Jazz Morrison and Co., was conducted within the premises of the HAC, 105 S. Main Street. It has been an ongoing tradition for a handful of years, and this is the second consecutive year that the proceeds have been pledged to benefit the post Civil War-era cemetery where many of Hannibal’s most respected citizens are at rest.
Along with a matching grant from the entrusted George H. Riedel Foundation, proceeds will allow for some infrastructure improvements to the cemetery, as well has help fund the annual mowing costs.
Concert performers were Hannibal pianist Bill Morrison, and musicians, including Bill’s son, Marty Morrison, on drums, Bennett Wood on saxophone, Tom Byrne on guitar and Jim Batson on bass.
In 2025, the cemetery association was able to parlay concert revenue and Riedel grant money into a significant improvement to the cemetery’s entrance. Drainage issues near the cemetery road off of Missouri Highway 79 had long limited passage into and out of the cemetery’s premises.
A Courier-Post story in mid 2025 described the work that was completed to alleviate the perpetual problem. Today, the entrance is properly graded, the ditches have been cleaned, and the drive itself has been paved with asphalt.
This year, the cemetery board’s sights have turned to the northern most road in the park, which has ongoing erosion issues. This road fronts upon the grave of William Henry Hatch, who was U.S. Representative from Missouri. He was the namesake of the Hatch Act of 1887.
In addition, the board, headed by James Youse, is looking to add benches at strategic points within the cemetery, and to improve the cemetery’s veteran memorial.
The board was re-established in September of 2024, when the existing board members, including long-time associate Peter Danielsons, came forth with the concern that the existing funds were quickly diminishing.
Volunteers stepped forward at a reorganizational meeting conducted at the Calvary Baptist Church. Jim and Linda Youse agreed to head the board, and other volunteers, including those with family ties to the cemetery, stepped up to lend their expertise.
George Riedel, nephew of the Riedel Foundation’s benefactor, plays an active role on the board, as does Dorothy Dexheimer, and other volunteers.
The Marion County Commission and the Hannibal Board of Public Works have been very helpful in resolving ongoing issues at the cemetery, Youse said.
“There is a lot of maintenance, it is a lot of work,” Youse said,” but it is one of the most beautiful places in Hannibal. We will keep working, keep planning fundraisers such as the jazz concerts, and maybe do some other things,” in order to preserve the grounds of one of Hannibal’s oldest and most prestigious cemeteries.
Following the Dec. 21 concert, the board was a little shy of having enough money to qualify for the matching Riedel grant.
“A lady stopped by our house on Sunday and gave us a check for $700. Her husband and still-born granddaughter are buried up there. She saw how great we did with the road, and knows there are other projects. She wanted to make sure we got that (Riedel Foundation) money,” Youse said.
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