By Reagan Scott
McCOOK (SNR) – For decades, St. Patrick Calvary Cemetery in McCook has been maintained by parish volunteers who do the work necessary to keep the cemetery beautiful for visitors who come to remember those buried there.
Father Gary Brethour, who was the pastor at St. Patrick parish for 23 years, said the families of the parish are integral to the cemetery’s operation. The cemetery, which dates back to the 1800s, is made up of 10 blocks, with volunteers assigned to mow each block.
But the volunteers don’t just mow, they repair the lawn mowers when they break, they fix the sprinkler system when it needs maintenance, and they keep trees trimmed.
Father Brethour said there is a family who donates the gas and oil for the mowers, and a family who pays for things like weed spray. Some of the riding lawn mowers that volunteers use were donated to the parish. Another family left money for a crucifix and altar at the cemetery where Mass is celebrated every Memorial Day. The parish also has two missions, each with its own cemetery maintained by a family there.
Leon Kuhlen and his wife Phyllis have been involved with helping at Calvary Cemetery for the past 30 years. When Tom Conroy, the previous cemetery sexton who served St. Patrick's Calvary Cemetery for more than 45 years, reached out to Phyllis and asked if she would be willing to mow one of the blocks in the cemetery, she agreed.
When Phyllis mowed, Leon would come along and bring his trimmer, and would later begin mowing and taking care of the altar in the center of the cemetery. In 2009, Leon began to conduct plot sales and to help diggers find graves, in addition to his work mowing.
While he no longer mows, Leon is in charge of all plot sales for the cemetery, having taken over Conroy’s duties before he passed in 2015.
As part of his role, Leon works with the diggers and monument companies to ensure that graves are dug and monuments are placed in the right spots. If he discovers damage to a monument, he works with the families and monument companies to have it fixed.
When people call the parish rectory to find the grave of someone who is buried in the cemetery, or to inquire about empty spaces around a particular plot, Leon answers those questions for them, consulting the records, which are kept on paper. When Leon makes a sale, he notes the name of the person and location in a log book and gives them a certificate.
His wife Phyllis, now also retired from mowing, helps him in this role, going with him to meet people at the cemetery when they’re looking for plots and helping with the record keeping.
“It’s been a very interesting experience at times, but I really enjoy it,” he said. “It’s an important part of the overall requirements of the parish.”
Father Bernard Kimminau, current pastor at St. Patrick Parish, helped mow the cemetery at his previous parish in Dawson. While he hadn’t been excited about the task at first, he said it grew on him as he began to glimpse a window into the past of the parish.
There, he saw headstones for parishioners who had fought in the Civil War and generations of families buried together.
“It gave us a chance to connect with the predecessors of the parish,” Father Kimminau said. “By mowing the cemetery, the history of the area came alive.”
Donna Jacobs volunteered at Calvary Cemetery for 35 years before retiring this year. In her time mowing, she enjoyed getting to know and remember the names of the people buried at the cemetery.
Like Phyllis, she was asked by Conroy if she would be willing to mow and agreed to help. Her husband Ron would come along too, bringing his trimmer. Jacobs said Conroy and his wife Bert — who died in 2003 — were integral to getting the cemetery in the condition it is today.
She said Tom “got the mowers ready and made sure there was gas in the tank. He was instrumental in doing a lot of that stuff.”
Jacobs said it was Conroy who put in the sprinkler system the cemetery uses today, which made upkeep even easier, eliminating the need to carry hoses through the space to water.
She joked that perhaps all of her time spent helping would give her a better chance to get into heaven, but in all seriousness said, “I enjoyed being outside and taking care of the cemetery.”
Father Brethour said the work put in by all of the volunteers boils down to stewardship.
“The work needs to be done, and it’s part of our Christian duty to do it,” he said. “The goal now is to try to get the next generation to take the reins.”
Jacobs said many people have helped with the cemetery in the decades she spent volunteering; some who stayed for a short time, and some stayed for a long time. One thing they have in common is that they all helped ensure that it has remained for all visitors, a place of peace, and reminder of hope in the resurrection.
See also:
Cemetery maintenance: for today, for tomorrow
'Bury the Dead': A Corporal Work of Mercy
Catholic Foundation of Southern Nebraska: financing for the future
Photos courtesy Fr. Brethour
