Catholic Cemetery
Contact: Mike Wehde - 886-3252
3.29.08
St. Mary’s Cemetery Spring Cleaning. This will be done after April 1. Any items you wish to keep, please pick up before that time. Thank you.
St. Mary's Cemetery was conveyed by warranty deed on July 15, 1867 from Christopher and Catherine Graham to Rt. Rev. John Hannassy, Catholic Bishop of Dubuque for the sum of $80.00. Calvin and Ellen Moore on March 29, 1963 for the sum of $1.00 sold an individual portion conveyeed to Rt. Rev. Ralph L Hayes, Bishop of the Diocese of Davenport. Mr. Moore retained the right to farm this land rent free until needed for buirel sites. In 1955, Harry and Mary Hickey donated the outside alter standing in the south east corner of the cemetery.
---from Stones and Sites of Cedar County, Iowa. Compiled by Earl HoweCurrently, there are four priests and one nun buried in the cemetery. They are Fr. JP Hines, Fr. Ray Pacha, Fr. GA Lillis, Fr. EJ Wilson and Sister Mary Philomena Crock. There has always been much interest in the cemetery and we are blessed to have had bequests for the perpetual care of the cemetery. There have also been other gifts. Linda Miller made a wooden sign identifying the cemetery and after many years of use, it has been replaced by a granite sign in memory of Leonard and Eleanor Dice. The tall trees that surround the cemetery were given by the Ed Kemp family.
Some of the people that have been responsible for seeing that the cemetery was taken of in the past years are: John Buresh, father of Kay Miller and Marge Pelzer. Raymond Crock, Sr., father of Don, Ray and Jim Crock, Lorna Marchik and Mary Jean Bents. After John Buresh was unable to help, Leo Miller and Raymond Crock Sr. were in charge. Ray Crock, Jr. took the place of his father for a short time. Tom Pelzer helped, but moved out of the area. After Leo MIller was unable to help, Mike Wehde worked with Ray Crock. In recent years, Mike has researched the original scroll with all the plots using the Stones and Sites of Cedar County, Iowa reference material and entered all the information electronically.
Some of the improvements that have been made are putting black top on the gravel drive, repairing all the stones that were damaged by vandalism, aligning all the rows of stones and resetting many of the old stones that had become tipped or crooked over the years.
---information compiled by Margaret Crock
208 Meridian Street, PO Box 309 - Tipton, Iowa 52772
Ph: 563-886-2506 Fax: 563-886-6326
tiptonsm@netwtc.net
Last updated 07/13/2008