Back in 2011, the Divide Cemetery was full of obstacles and overgrowth. 

“We saw the cemetery all grown over and somebody needed to do something about it,” Robert Elder said.

The “somebody” turned out to be a group of Romeos.

Romeo stands for retired old men eating out. But these guys do a lot more than eat out (which they still do every Thursday morning at the Hungry Bear Diner).

On Memorial Day weekend of that year, Elder and his fellow Romeos cleared away branches, brush and debris. They leveled sunken graves. They mowed and trimmed.

They even installed a flagpole.

“We’ve got a rotating account set up that we maintain to replace the flags as they get worn out,” said George Carey, who spearheaded the project.

Now cemetery maintenance is an annual project of the Romeos. If needed, it’s a semiannual project. 

What started as a weekly social gathering has turned into a blessing for the people of Divide’s Highlands Lakes neighborhood.

Their first project was banding together to cut and deliver three truckloads of firewood for a veteran who was in a back brace. That happened in 2009. In the years since, the Romeos have built accessibility ramps, fixed roofs, built a playground, a pickleball court and a horseshoe pit. They’ve bought Christmas presents for disadvantaged kids. 

And they aren’t slowing down.

In late August, they did their annual cemetery cleanup. On Sept. 3, the Romeos were mowing, trimming and cleaning up at the Teller County Sheriff’s Department shooting range. On Sept. 9-10, they were doing the same along a portion of US 24.

“The biggest project that the Romeos have done is add 32 feet onto the community center building so that now we can have pretty good-sized events (like) graduation parties, weddings and all kinds of stuff,” Roger King said. 

These are some pretty big projects for a bunch of aging Romeos. 

“We do projects around the neighborhood – anything that needs done,” Fred Swets said. “It’s simply something that makes us feel good and took care of problems.”

One anecdote illustrates that statement nicely.

A neighbor told Swets about a guy whose house badly needed to be painted but didn’t want to embarrass him by mentioning it. Swets said he would talk to him.

“The guy’s sitting on the front porch listening to a ballgame on the radio,” said Swets, who said the man eyed him suspiciously as he approached. 

Swets asked him if he would like his house painted. The man said he wished he could paint his house, but he had no money. He had even entered into a bankruptcy proceeding in order to be able to stay in his home. Swets said that they would paint it for free. The man was grateful but said he couldn’t even afford the paint. 

“I said ‘what if we supplied the paint and did it for free?'” Swets said. “The man said, ‘I’d say God bless you every day you drove past.'”

The Romeos passed the hat and came away with $750. They went to Home Depot and the bill for the proper amount of paint to do the project was exactly $750.

“It’s almost like God’s talking to you,” Swets said.

The project itself became a community affair. 

“We had husbands and wives and kids out there painting – 26 people showed up for that project,” Swets said. “Not all Romeos, just people who wanted to help.”

Acts of kindness inspiring others. All thanks to some remarkable Romeos.