Meet Russell Degroot, the head caretaker at Walnut Ridge Cemetery, Virginia, Illinois. For the past 32 years, he and God have worked in partnership in this lovely and tranquil place.
Founded in 1872, the earliest headstones date back to the late 1700’s. (Some of the graves were consolidated from smaller cemeteries.) The most recent burial was about a week ago.
Since it was toward the end of his day, Russell decided to hang out with me and answer some questions that I’ve always had:
Me: Have there ever been any strange activities out here?
Russell: Not among the dead. Sometimes the living would go ‘parking’ — but they’d usually get chased out, lol.
Me: Did you ever have to exhume one of the vaults or caskets?
Russell: We’ve sometimes moved the vaults with caskets but never opened a casket. Once a woman from CA wanted to be buried by her dad — but there was no more room in the plot. So he was moved and lay by himself in another part of the cemetery. Many years later, she finally died and joined him.
But there is a lot of paperwork and approvals to get, personnel that need to participate and money spent when that happens. The digging alone is triple the cost of the original work.
Me: Have there ever been difficult burials emotionally for you?
Russell: They pretty much all are because I know most of the people. Even the ones that I don’t, the crying really gets to me. I may work here but I have a heart.
Me: Are the a lot of children and young people buried out here?
Russell: Yes. Those are always difficult burials. One had a beautiful granite slab on top of his grave but a tree fell on it and cracked it. The family decided just to fill in the grave. It was hard to redo that one.
Me: How are the caskets placed?
Russell: As much as possible, the head of the casket is always placed pointing west. The feet then are always facing east. Haven’t you heard of the phrase ‘Head west young man?’ That had a double meaning.
Me: So what does it cost to reserve a spot in this beautiful cemetery?
Russell: I think it is about $500 per grave space.
I am thankful for people like Russell who take this as a sacred calling and serve faithfully. I am sure there is a special place in heaven for people like him!
By the way, he mentioned that we both had reservations in this lovely place. Russell showed me where his was. Curiosity getting the better of me, I asked him where my space was. He marched me over to the Herbert A. and Kathleen Snow plot section. Either my brother or I would be laid to rest near my grandmother and the other next to my mom. Acting like I was taking a pic, I wiped away a tear from my eye.
Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for thinking of my brother and me. Russell, thank you so much for the best piece of news I’ve heard in a long time!
Anthony Cota
Note: The following link will take you to a video that I created several years ago of the cemetery. It was done on a beautiful and very cold Illinois December day.
Anthony Cota 
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