“Tales From the Cemetery”
With “Cowboy” Matt
Chasco
Fifty
No. This isn’t another birthday essay.
My job duty count keeps going up as I move through my 19th
year at the cemeteries. My joke is that the powers that be keep saying, “I know
your plate’s pretty full… so we brought you a second plate!”
Some of those duties
are certainly labors of love. We’re currently updating our records so they can
be uploaded to a brand-new software program and it’s basically correcting
errors made 20+ years ago that were ignored or, sadly enough, went unnoticed
until I caught them. It’s… unpleasant, but very satisfying to know that it’s
going to be fixed, correctly, for the first time in a long time, maybe ever.
Other job duties are a somber reminder of our mission to
the people of Milwaukee. Today was one of those days.
Every six weeks, we perform a “Burial of The Pre-Born”.
We coordinate with several local hospitals and Pinelawn Cemetery to give a
burial to miscarried and stillborn babies, less than 20 weeks of gestation or
and/or less than 12 ounces. The technical term for these babies is “Products of
Conception”. We use the term “babies”, because that’s what they are. We travel
to the hospitals to pick them up, deliver Pinelawn’s burials to them, then we
take ours back to Holy Cross for a fully-fledged committal service, just as we’d
do with anyone else. The babies are each placed in their own small container by
the hospital staff, and those containers are then placed into a small concrete
burial vault and buried in our infant section. We will know exactly where that
baby is buried should a family wish to visit them.
Today, we laid fifty children to rest. Fifty.
It’s heartbreaking. To
see some of those parents dealing with the loss of a child, regardless of age,
is devastating. For some, it’s their first time. For one family, this was their
sixth miscarriage. Yes. Six.
In my years at Holy
Cross, I started by making sure our service was on our daily schedule and the babies’
names were entered into our records. In time, it became my job to order the
vault. Then, it was my responsibility to set the schedule for the entire year
and become program coordinator. Today, I completed the circle by taking over
the pickup duties.
I attended the service for
the first time today and it was not an easy time. I witnessed a family as they
sat there with their two very young children and were there to pray for their baby,
a sibling their children will never know this side of heaven. I’m not ashamed
to tell you I shed tears, as the entire situation hit me very deeply. I have
family and friends that have dealt with this, and I cannot imagine the pain
they went through and are still going through.
I am honored and
humbled to help these families and take it very seriously that they have
entrusted their little ones to us. These little souls will never know the
warmth of the sun on their faces, the smell of rain, the beauty of snow. I take
comfort in the fact that these families will see them again someday. I pray we
can give these families a sense of closure and security that their baby is not
only safe with us but is now safe in the loving arms of our savior.
I ask all of you, from the
bottom of my heart, to pray for these families. Pray for healing,
understanding, and hope in the resurrection.
Parents, give your kids
an extra hug. Soak up every moment you have with them and be thankful we have
those moments.
