St Mary's Cemetery

Two weeks ago Nov. 2020 I had occation to go to St. Mary's Cemetery trying to find some answers on my Family Geneaolgy. My sister ... bravely went with me ..... we were there for about two and a half hours. In that time.... a Beautiful young woman who opened the doors for us at the Chapel/office there, named Shannon,,,, who is not Irish,,, Hi Shannon ,,, went out of her way to help. She looked up graves ,,, gave me maps,,,, etc. When after about an hour of me dragging my poor sister around... I still was looking for one grave that I could not find... back I went to Shannon, Who again came to the rescue. She went and found one of the Men who work there... he came out with a truck... off we went.... my sister took a nap ..... he walked all over the place with me and helped me. I did not get his name,,,, but what a nice man... Yes we all were wearing Masks!. He then walked to his truck and told my sister I was ready to have her drive over and pick me up... I am almose 80.... what a work out.! I live miles away and do plan on another trip. The cemetery was in very good shape. Many Thanks. Theo Whalen Killiard

The people who work at this cemetery and at the Diocese of Springfield, which oversees this cemetery among a few others, are evasive, suspicious, unhelpful and quite grumpy. You’d think that a Catholic institution, with the wealth and spheres of influence that it has bolstering it, wouldn’t resort to being so dismissive and rude to it’s patrons and potential worshipers. I bet, on average, zero people walk into that cemetery office on a day-to-day basis, and yet when I walk in to inquire the locations of the graves of my family members, I get side-eyed and scoffed at. As soon as I make a sound with my mouth with the intent to form a question, the person in the office is already getting impatient with me. I’m sorry, did I interrupt your 30 minute break that you have from an entire shift that’s virtually an 8 hour break in of itself? On top of that, the lady stands at the window glaring me down as I graze through the foggy graveyard, with her brow furrowed in suspicion of my very evil and sinister plot of learning more about my ancestors, hoping that the might of the lord will soon make me take my leave. Bad vibes, man. I felt like I was on some cover of a Goosebumps book. It’s as if they’re afraid that I’ll stumble upon something scandalous. Whatever it is, I’ll find it I tell ya. Oh, and don’t bother emailing the Diocese, they won’t get back to you. They just stockpile information and don’t care to share any of it. I mean... Are they lazy? Are they hiding secrets? What’s the big deal? Are they actually an arm of the NSA? They are making an issue out of a non-issue. The people at the Pine Hill Cemetery, however, a primarily Protestant cemetery with a few non-denominational plots, are more than glad to set time aside to help, provide information, and point you to the right direction. That is apart of their job after all, right?