Eddie Leo Sims Jr., a Vicksburg man described as “the epitome of what volunteering is all about” for his work at historic Beulah Cemetery, died Thursday, six days after his 81st birthday.

“He was very active in trying to restore Beulah Cemetery,” said state Rep. George Flaggs, D-Vicksburg, who was instrumental in obtaining state money to pay for an initial cleanup at the cemetery off Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.

“He was my initial contact in trying to secure funding. My heart is saddened,” Flaggs said. “He was the epitome of what volunteering is all about. He worked to blood and sweat and didn’t expect a quarter.”

Since 1992, when he retired from Westinghouse Electric and Cooper Lighting after 38 years, Sims had spent his days cutting weeds, mowing grass and even digging graves at the 15-acre, 126-year-old cemetery.

“He had been ill for a while, but never showed it,” said Sims’ cousin Jackie Miller. “Everything in life was a mission to him.”

Sims was preceded in death by his parents, Ed and Maude Nailor Sims, who are both buried at Beulah, near where he will be buried Monday.

Sims graduated from St. Mary’s Catholic School in 1947 and enlisted in the U.S. military in 1951. After two years, he joined the Army Reserves and became part of the 386th Trucking Company. He was discharged in 1962.

Miller described her cousin as an ardent supporter of Beulah, the cemetery established by the Vicksburg Tabernacle No. 19 Independent Order of Brothers and Sisters of Love and Charity.

“He grew up in the cemetery and worked with his dad,” Miller said, working with his father to maintain the grounds holding 5,500 graves.

“As a child he said he use to come out and dig graves and clear land,” said Pearline Williams, president of Beulah Cemetery Restoration Committee. “He was an advocate.”

In 1999, the restoration committee received $50,000 in a special legislative allocation to pay for maintenance, and last year the committee received $25,000 for work to fight an erosion problem.

“He was a person who commanded respect,” said Karen Frederick, secretary of the restoration committee who worked with Sims on a video documentary of the cemetery. “He was somebody I gravitated to. I valued his friendship and, if he wanted to do something, I would have done it.”

The video, in which Sims is one of many who detail recollections of the cemetery, is expected to be released in the spring at visitors centers and public libraries across the state.

Sims requested that his only funeral be graveside at Beulah.