Providence and Prairie Home Cemetery

A few summers ago my Grandpa and Grandma Reinhardt, Mom, and Aunt Annie came to the Midwest for a family history tour. We dusted off the camcorder and made the rounds first in Oak Park, where Grandpa grew up, and then in Wisconsin where my Grandma's family came from.

My great-grandmother, LaVona Daniel, grew up in Waukesha, WI. She moved out to California after attending college, and settled with her husband in Pasadena, CA. My Grandmother grew up hearing stories of Waukesha and nearby Lake Peewaukee, where the family summered. We had a number of sites to see, including the different homes her family lived in, the Lake, the site of Grandaddy Abell's lumber yard, and the old homestead acreage, which is now a freeway and a massive furniture store. We also stopped by Prairie Home Cemetery to see the family plot. Of course we had no idea where it was inside the cemetery grounds, so before going to see it we had to go to the main office.

Mom and Grandma went inside while the rest of us sat in the car. They took quite awhile, and then mom came back out carrying a big folder and explained that Grandma was inside filling out paperwork. Apparently, the family plot had open graves. The cemetery had no information on next-of-kin, and would have soon reclaimed the graves and re-sold them. Grandma got there in the nick of time. She filled out the paperwork and got joint custody of the graves for herself and her siblings. Since none of the family remains in the Midwest, they figured they would sell them back to the cemetery, and count the graves as an unexpected inheritance from their great-grandparents.

A few months after returning from that trip Grandma wrote a letter to Prairie Home to ask about selling the graves. It was winter in the Midwest at the time, and the plots were covered in snow, preventing the cemetery staff from getting a good look at the area. They were hesitant to buy them back because the family plot has a rather large monument in the center, making the two empty graves on which the monument partially rests unmarketable from the cemetery's perspective. The staff informed Grandma that if a few of the graves appeared marketable when the snow melted then the cemetery might buy them back for around $250 (they sell them for $1,000). However, it didn't appear that they would want to buy them, so the women suggested donating them back to the cemetery. Grandma decided not to pursue it further, at least until the options could be carefully considered. The only thing certain in everyone's mind was that no one in our family would ever want the plots.

After our confirmation ultrasound it was clear that we had to make a plan for our baby's remains. I had read on some grief websites that it is most important to do with the remains whatever it is you think you would do for any member of your family who passed away. They also warned against feeling pressured into any decision by cost or convenience, because regrets add to the already heavy burden of grief. Based on this we decided to pursue burial. I immediately thought of the graves at Prairie Home.

Grandma asked her siblings if they would be willing to sign one of the plots at Prairie Home over to me and Jeff so that we could use it to bury Leah. They all agreed and Mom and Grandma worked with some people at Prairie Home to take care of all the paperwork involved in signing plots over. We got started on the transfer right before our final ultrasound, not knowing or thinking that it would be the last one, just wanting to get it taken care of as soon as possible. So my Uncles Bill and Bob, and my Aunt Donna all had to send in signed and notarized copies of a form. I don't know all of the details because I didn't handle this part, but I know that they all had to work hard to get it done quickly.

Jeff and I were so grateful for their gift, and for the way that God orchestrated events to make that gift possible. It has been very comforting to us to know that Leah is buried near family, because it means that her grave won't be forgotten or lost. Leah is buried next to her Great-Great-Great Uncle Rial T. Rolf(e), and across from her Great-Great-Great Grandfather William H. Daniel, her Great-Great-Great-Great Uncle, William Henry Rolf(e), and her Great-Great-Great-Great Grandparents, Rial Rolf(e) and Anna Abell.