Cemetery employee marks 50 years on the job

By Mary Ann Wyand

TERRE HAUTE—Fifty years. Five decades. A half century.

However you describe it, Bob Carpenter’s work as a grounds foreman at Calvary and St. Joseph cemeteries in Terre Haute adds up to a lifetime of dedicated service to Catholic families in Vigo County.

Since July 1, 1955, Carpenter has labored in all kinds of weather to prepare gravesites for burials. He is 74, and has no plans to retire from the ministry he loves so much.

“People joke about how I’m married to my job,” Carpenter said during a recent interview. That’s not true. His wife’s name is Dora, and they have five children and eight grandchildren.

He will be honored for distinguished service to the Archdiocese of Indianapolis during a celebration in August.

Burying the dead is a corporal work of mercy for the Church, and Carpenter takes this solemn responsibility very seriously.

Calvary Cemetery covers 40 acres and has room for 50,000 graves. St. Joseph Cemetery has 22,000 graves on 10 acres of land.

Carpenter dug 3,500 graves by hand at St. Joseph and Calvary cemeteries in Terre Haute from 1955 until a backhoe was purchased in 1990. His workday starts early and sometimes ends after dark.

He can tell people from memory where every family’s burial plot is located at both Catholic cemeteries in Terre Haute, which are now operated by the Buchanan Group as part of a management contract with the archdiocese.

The late Father James McBarron, former pastor of Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish in Terre Haute and secretary-treasurer of the Catholic Cemetery Association there, hired Carpenter as the cemetery superintendent in 1955.

“Father McBarron contacted me and wanted me to work for the cemetery,” Carpenter said. “I never applied for the job.”

Fifty years later, he’s still happy to be working there.

“When you work for a place, you think about everything and you absorb it all,” Carpenter said. “You put it in your mind and create your own pattern of work. I got acquainted with all the families and have made a lot of friends. Anything they needed, that’s what I was here for.”

Msgr. Joseph F. Schaedel, vicar general and pastor of Holy Rosary Parish in Indianapolis, praised Carpenter for his compassionate service to grief-stricken people.

“I suspect that Bob’s long tour of service to the archdiocese is a record for any of our lay employees,” Msgr. Schaedel said. “Some of our priests celebrate 50 years of active service, but I don’t think I’ve ever known a layperson who has worked for the Church for 50 continuous years and who is still going strong.

“Bob is one of those humble, quiet, unassuming people in the background who do so much to serve the needs of others in the Church,” the vicar general said. “In fact, he reminds me a bit of St. Joseph—always in the background, always there when needed, always faithful. What a record of faithful service! Without people like Bob Carpenter, the Church would not be nearly as effective in ministry.”

Kathy Johnson, the location manager for Calvary Cemetery at Terre Haute, said Carpenter takes care of all the grounds maintenance throughout the year with a small staff and is very dedicated to his job.

“He can work circles around most anybody else who works with him,” Johnson said. “You would not know that he is 74 years old. He mows the grounds and removes trees. He still digs the cremation graves. He doesn’t dig the full-body graves anymore, but he used to do them by hand. He can tell you stories about how sometimes in the winter he had to get a jackhammer to get through the ice to dig the grave.”

Mike English, the grounds foreman for Calvary, Holy Cross and St. Joseph cemeteries in Indianapolis, said Carpenter “has a big heart and is one of the most dedicated people I’ve ever met. He has dedicated his life to running the [Catholic] cemeteries there for the people of Terre Haute. He’s done a lot of extra things in regard to going the extra mile to make the families happy. After 50 years, he knows everybody.”

English has 23 years of service at three Catholic cemeteries in Indianapolis, and understands the challenges of preparing gravesites in the heat and humidity of summer or in subzero weather when the ground is frozen and covered with snow.

“It’s a physical job,” English said. “He just gets out there in the cold and deals with the frozen ground. … It’s amazing to me that anybody could stay in one job that long, let alone stay healthy like he has over the years. Sometimes he’s done the work all by himself for periods of time.”

Carpenter said he enjoys helping people in their time of need and likes working outdoors every day.

“The work was all done by hand until 1990,” he said, “but we always got the graves done on time.” †