Cemetery Workers Put In a Full Day
By SCOTT McCLOSKEY Staff WriterArticle Photos
WHEELING - Obscure as they may be, they are there, with motorists and joggers passing them by daily many times without even a notice.
They are the legions of cemetery workers who seemingly blend in with the many monuments on any given day, performing an extraordinary amount of valuable service to care for the Ohio Valley's cemeteries.
With many area cemeteries dating back to the pre-Civil War era and sometimes having as many as tens of thousands of burial sites, the amount of maintenance needed for just one cemetery can be astounding.
Some workers may find themselves performing a multitude of duties including gravesite preparation, grass cutting, weed trimming, pouring monument foundations, repairing and leveling grave stones, painting fences and gathering debris, such as tree branches and leaves. In addition, with genealogy on the rise, workers can sometimes help those who are having difficulty locating their ancestor's grave site.
"Maintenance ... is a really big part of the cemetery, it fills our day," said Ed Hatcher, cemetery superintendent at Greenwood Cemetery which extends across nearly 100 acres of property in the heart of Wheeling.
Hatcher, who is a 35-year employee of the cemetery, said there are a lot more duties than people realize. He said in addition to helping with funerals, they have approximately 25 full-time and seasonal employees who care for more than 40,000 burial sites at the cemetery. "One crew works full time just on handling monuments."
Hatcher said they have assigned sections in the cemetery for the workers. "Everybody knows pretty much what they have to do everyday ... the assignments don't really change much." "When you have a good crew it makes the job much easier," Hatcher added.
"Genealogy is really big now ... and if people have a difficult time finding a gravesite, we can help them find it," Hatcher commented. "You have an opportunity to help people, with what ever it might be."
Located just a few hundred yards east of Greenwood Cemetery is Mount Calvary Cemetery, which is operated by the Catholic Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston and occupies nearly 85 acres of property.
Bob Schutz of Wheeling has been employed for the cemetery for over 50 years and said both his father and grandfather worked for many years at the cemetery, which was established in 1872. Schutz said they have a crew of six full-time and eight seasonal employees.
Schutz said, "There is a lot of unforeseen work, such as cleaning up after a storm." He said it may take days just to clean up the tree branches and debris left behind by a storm. He said the workers also stay busy performing a number of other duties including: putting in foundations for the new grave stones and fixing and leveling older ones.
Schutz said they also arrange the flowers located just inside the main gate and at various locations around the cemetery to coordinate with the seasons. He said, "We put in a new rose garden ... and right now we are putting in the fall mums.
Our Lady of Seven Dolors Church, which is a mission church to St. Vincent de Paul Church of Wheeling, is nestled in a more secluded location just off of Chapel Hill Road in the Triadelphia section of Wheeling. Bob Shelek, an employee of St. Vincent's said he is the primary caretaker for the smaller cemetery which originated in 1839. He said the cemetery only covers about three acres of property and has about 210 burial sites.
Shelek said he makes sure everything is taken care of, which includes duties like: grass cutting, stones leveling and some of the smaller gravesite work. Shelek has been taking care of the cemetery for the past 12 years.
Russell "Rusty" Jebbia, director of Public Works for the City of Wheeling, said the city is responsible for the care of four cemeteries which include: Mt. Wood, Penninsula, Stone Church and Manchester cemeteries. Jebbia said with all the cemeteries combined, there are approximately 23 acres of property the city cares for throughout the year.
Jebbia said the some of the cemeteries date back to the mid-1800s. He said the city hires six seasonal employees with a full-time supervisor to care for the four cemeteries and during the winter months the city maintains them through the city's operations division.
Located just across the Ohio River in the city of Martins Ferry is Riverview Cemetery which occupies 180 acres and has a view overlooking the Ohio River and a large portion of the valley. Billie Regis, a records clerk for the City of Martins Ferry, said the city cares for the cemetery year-round along with Betty Zane Cemetery and they hire an additional six seasonal employees to help with things like grass cutting duties.
She said the employees work on many things, which includes duties like resetting stones. She said many of the grave stones will fall or settle over the years and at times they may be knocked over by vandals.
Regis said another challenge for the city is finding older records. She said three fires at the sexton's house over the years destroyed many of their records. Regis said, "I can't help a lot of people find records because there is over 40,000 burial sites and many of the records have been lost. She said they are currently in the process of updating all the record books.
Steve Mehl, a service department employee for the city of Martins Ferry, said he has worked on cemetery duties for over 12 years and there are many responsibilities. He said, "We maintain all the graves ... and we reset a lot of the stones."
Belmont Mayor, Richard Thompson said he takes care of many duties at the Belmont Cemetery, which is owned by the village. He said besides performing maintenance duties, he shows had sells lots in the cemetery, which he said probably has over 1,000 burial sites and was established in the mid-1800's.
A common dilemma Thompson said he runs into is locating the older concrete grave markers. He said finding them can be "a challenge" at times, but once he finds them everything works out fine. He said they hire a seasonal employee to do the grass mowing and once or twice a year they hire two town workers to fix any stones that are in need of repair.
