A Mission of Maintenance: Holy Cross Cemetery

By Karen Stretch, regional editor

Crew member Rosie Afiko Munde places a flag near a headstone in preparation for the Memorial Day holiday. Aside from one layperson, Francis Miller, a friend and employee of the university for 47 years, every person who has been and will be laid to rest in the cemetery at Holy Cross is a Jesuit.

Modest Beginnings: The College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass., is the oldest Catholic college in New England. When the college was founded in 1843 by the Second Bishop of Boston, Benedict Joseph Fenwick, the campus consisted of a simple half-wooden, half-brick building set on 52 acres of land.

After 163 years, the college has grown to encompass 174 acres with 36 buildings.

John Keating, laborer, (left) and James Fennell, working foreman, winterize the ground in order to keep it soft. The freezing winters of Massachusetts can sometimes cause up to four feet of frost.

After the crew reaches the vault, the lid is removed and any water or debris is removed from the inside in preparation for the placement of a casket.

In charge of maintaining the grounds is George Query, landscape foreman, a man devoted to what he describes as a part-time summer job that has lasted 33 years.

Query?EUR??,,????'???s investment in the college was quickly made clear as he enthusiastically told me about the rich history of Holy Cross as well as any college professor could, and perhaps even better because of his hands-on, up-close-and-personal relationship with the campus.

Armstrong Lidonde, general foreman, and Keating cover the vault with dirt by hand once it has been cleaned.

History in the Making

Now, a cemetery probably isn?EUR??,,????'???t what most college students expect to see on their way to class. But in the beginning when the college had only one building that housed the Jesuits, students, classrooms, dining hall, gym, and kitchen, the cemetery was located at the rear of the campus and was surrounded by farms and an Indian reservation. It wasn?EUR??,,????'???t until a fire broke out at Holy Cross that additional buildings were constructed around the cemetery, transforming it into the central point of the college grounds. Being a central figure of the campus means that the crew must keep a constant vigil of the cemetery?EUR??,,????'???s appearance.

There are no gates to keep people out of the cemetery; it is open for anyone on campus to walk through and visit. Bordering the cemetery is a 350 foot long lilac hedge, a 15 foot long arborvitae hedge, a boxwood hedge, and a taxus hedge that provides the backdrop for the Ave Maria statue.

The cemetery at Holy Cross is now located near the center of the campus. However, in the early days of the college, the cemetery was located behind the single building that made up the entire campus. Visible in the photo is the greenhouse that is used by the Jesuit priests at Holy Cross to grow herbs and perennials.

Because of the small size of the cemetery, all of the irrigation is done as-need by hand.

The cemetery at Holy Cross, which is only a quarter-of-an-acre in size, attracts many visitors including alumni, relatives and friends of the Jesuits from across the country. Aside from one layperson, Francis Miller, a devoted friend and employee of the college for 47 years and father of Holy Cross vice president Francis Miller, every person who has been and will be laid to rest in the cemetery is a Jesuit.

Measuring in at approximately a quarter of an acre in size, irrigation of the cemetery is done as needed, by hand. The lawn is made up of a bluegrass rye mix and is mowed using 21?EUR??,,????'?? rear-bagger John Deere mowers.

?EUR??,,????'??We?EUR??,,????'???re sort of a different operation than normal cemeteries because we know where our next person is going,?EUR??,,????'?? explained Query. ?EUR??,,????'??Most other cemeteries do not know.?EUR??,,????'??

Much of the digging is done by hand because of the layout of the cemetery. When equipment is used, the crew uses a New Holland skid loader with a back hoe attachment. The caskets are placed in cement vaults (that are already in place) and then sealed with a silicone substance.

Gerald Soloperto, crew chief, and Brian McDermott, student helper, trim around the headstones using Echo line trimmers.

The lawn is mowed using a 21" rear-bagger John Deere Mower, and Echo line trimmers cut the grass around the headstones. Seeding is done in the fall and a bluegrass rye mix is used. After a burial has taken place, the crew will seed the holes by hand, or if two burials occur near each other, sod will be laid down right away.

“We had a lot of them mowing and taking care of wooded areas,” said Query. “Some still take an interest ?EUR??,,????'??? they use the green house to raise herbs and perennials and vegetables.”

Crew member John Keating uses a gas-powered John Deere hedge trimmer to cut back the 350 foot long lilac hedge. In the background is St. Joseph?EUR??,,????'???s chapel.

Working side-by-side with the priests, Query feels as though they have given each other an education through talking and learning together. Part of that education is teaching the staff and students of Holy Cross about the job of the grounds crew.

Query feels that well-maintained grounds provide a look of a safe environment, and gives the campus more of a home feeling. One of the biggest challenges for the crew is the weather and the timing of the weather based around big events on campus. The crew works rain or shine. ?EUR??,,????'??We don?EUR??,,????'???t let Mother Nature get us down.?EUR??,,????'?? said Query. ?EUR??,,????'??And we don?EUR??,,????'???t let things go, we treat it as if it were our own backyard.?EUR??,,????'??

On March 19, 1945, Fr. Jospeh O?EUR??,,????'???Callahan tended to the dead and wounded during an attack by the Japanese on the aircraft carrier USS Franklin. Fr. O?EUR??,,????'???Callahan was presented with the Congressional Medal of Honor for his bravery.

?EUR??,,????'??You can?EUR??,,????'???t be a specialist in the landscape industry – you have to know everything.?EUR??,,????'???EUR??,,????'??+George Query, Landscape Superintendent

Buried in the cemetery at Holy Cross College is Father Joseph T. O?EUR??,,????'???Callahan, a Jesuit priest who was presented with the Congressional Medal of Honor for his bravery in attending to the dead and wounded on board the USS Franklin during an attack by the Japanese.

Father O?EUR??,,????'???Callahan was director of the math department at Holy Cross from 1938-1940. In 1940, he was commissioned as a Lieutenant (Junior Grade) in the Naval Reserve Chaplain Corps and in 1945, joined the aircraft carrier USS Franklin in Pear Harbor, Hawaii.

After serving for six years in the Naval Reserve Chaplain Corp, Fr. O?EUR??,,????'???Callahan returned to Holy Cross College as a professor of philosophy. When he died in 1964, Fr. O?EUR??,,????'???Callahan was laid to rest in the Holy Cross cemetery.

During an attack on the ship by the Japanese during offensive operations near Kobe, Japan on March 19, 1945, Father O?EUR??,,????'???Callahan tended to the dead, read last rites, comforted the injured, and led damage control and ammunition jettisoning parties. After the attack, the commanding officer of the ship called O?EUR??,,????'???Callahan, ?EUR??,,????'??The bravest man I ever saw.?EUR??,,????'??

Father O?EUR??,,????'???Callahan returned to Holy Cross as a professor of philosophy in 1946. He died in Worcester, Mass., on March 18, 1964.