Northland: Volunteers walking cemeteries keep history and genealogy alive - and online

CLOCKET - "Nagorski is the name we're looking for. Ronald Nagorski," Lori Kelly said as she walked through Plot G in Old Calvary Cemetery.

Kelly brought along a shovel, a lap stand, a broom, and a cell phone, which she calls her "tools for the job" - the "job" being photographing headstones for her co-workers on the Find a Grave website.

"They don't recommend using cleaners because you don't want to harm the stone," Kelly says. "Especially if it's an older, softer stone. So I have these products to clear it up a little bit." For a lot of people, this is the only picture they've ever seen of their relative's grave."

Kelly is one of the millions of volunteers contributing to the Find A Grave website and one of a large group living in Northland. The site was set up in 1995 when its founder wanted to share photos of famous people's graves. Today it is open to anyone who wants to find, record and present information about a final resting place to the world. It is run entirely by volunteers like Kelly who take the time to record, photograph and manage memorials of people around the world and region.

Lori Kelly was asked to locate this grave in the Old Calvary Cemetery.

Volunteers contribute to the site in a variety of ways. Kelly has been with the site for seven years and manages 6,656 memorials. One of the site's largest local contributors under the nickname "Duluth Engraver" has added 122,000 photos and 27,577 memorials to the site. "Judy H." of Cook has added 60,000 memorials to the site in 12 years.

It's not about me, it's about helping others find who they are looking for.

"Judy H. is legendary," Kelly says. "She gave me some of the Cloquet memorials because she knew she could trust me to take care of them. I felt honored. She's over 80 years old now, and she's still keeping busy."

Although she knew Judy's username, Kelly and the other volunteers have mostly never met. They just communicated on the site, sending each other corrections and notes asking to add family members.

This is how most people get involved in the hobby - by immersing themselves in their family's history on the site.

Pine needles rest on a carved cross on a headstone at Old Calvary Cemetery on Thursday, April 27, 2023, in Cloquet.

"When I'm looking for someone's name, I sometimes find it on the Find a Grave website," said Find a Grave member Rita Sherepa of Gnesen Township. It has helped me a lot in researching my family history. .... And I saw that you can do volunteer photography for people there. And it was a great way for me to give back because I learned so much from there for my genealogy."

Sherepa joined the site 11 years ago. She began photographing graves at nearby local cemeteries - Calvary Cemetery and the Polish Catholic Cemetery on Howard-Gnesen Road. She would print out a wish list, visit the cemetery caretaker to get a map, and set out to find graves to photograph.

"Over time, I've gotten better at figuring out cemeteries: for example, if there's plot A and then B and C, why is there suddenly plot 22?" said Sherepa. "Some of them are just quirky. But you start to get used to it and you can find people more easily."

Lori Kelly of Cloquet is seeking burial in the Old Calvary Cemetery.

For example, Sherepa once found the grave of one woman's grandmother, even though at first glance there was none.

"She knew that one was there. She had been there as a child and was able to send me a picture of where the grave was," Sherepa said. "It was a section of Calvary with a little boxwood border, and I was able to walk around that whole area and found it. There was a nice, big stone there; it just wasn't properly documented. It had just slipped through the cracks. It was so important to her."

"Some people here died 100 years ago, so probably none of the locals still visit them. But I can clean their stone and capture it as it looks now so it can be found in the future," - Deanna Glumac, Find a Grave volunteer.

Because of her unusual hobby, Sherepa earned herself a ridiculous nickname from her husband, who called her Morticia, like Morticia Addams from the TV and movie "The Addams Family."

"I finally told him he had no right to call me Morticia anymore until he brought me dead flowers like Gomez," says Sherepa. "And he did indeed do that. He went into The Rose Man (a flower store in Duluth) one day, explained why he wanted dead flowers, and they even wrapped them with black ribbon."

Many of the memorials in Old Calvary Cemetery are decorated with ornate stonework.

The headstones stand in the shade of mature trees in the Old Calvary Cemetery.

Despite the taunts, Sherepa says she enjoys looking for tombstones.

"It's just really great. You get to go outside and enjoy the weather and the good days, and you don't have to go outside on the bad days," Sherepa said. "But in doing that, you're doing something for people. It's not about me, it's about helping others find who they're looking for."

While Sherepa mostly stays in his local places, other members like to travel and check out cemeteries. Tom Edwards is one such Find a Grave member.

A black cat belonging to Lori Kelly rests in Calvary's Old Calvary Cemetery.

Crimson rests at the base of a fallen headstone at Old Calvary Cemetery on Thursday, April 27, 2023, in Cloquet.

"Sometimes we just go on a day trip and along the way we stop by a cemetery we've never been to before," Edwards says. "And we do it as a field trip to see something and learn more about the place."

When he returns to Duluth, Edwards enjoys documenting Calvary Cemetery with his wife. One summer they mapped the section of Calvary where children and the poor were buried.

"We just spend an hour or so a day mapping and documenting it so people can find their loved ones someday. It's sad, but it's even worse if they disappear without a trace and are forgotten," Edwards says.

Lori Kelly uses a smartphone to document a grave.

For volunteer Deanna Glumack of Carleton, it all started with documenting her church's small cemetery, St. Francis Cemetery. She has added memorials and photos for 95 percent of the cemetery's 150 headstones. She says it helps her feel connected to the community and honor those who came before by tidying up their headstones.

"Some of the people there died 100 years ago, so it's probably still unvisited," Glumac says. "But I can clean their stone and capture it as it looks now so it can be found in the future."

This winter she took on a new challenge: Carlton's Hillside Cemetery. She often visits the Carlton County Courthouse to find information and add it to the website.

Lori Kelly uses a foam lap stand, gardening gloves, a small broom, and a carryall to carry her belongings while documenting graves.

"It turned out to be a much bigger project," Glumac says. "I won't be able to finish it by the time the snow melts, but I'm making good progress. It's my retirement project."

For Kelly, it's also a good way to get to know a new community. She grew up in Silver Bay and has lived in Cloquet for 17 years, but says she learns something new on the website every day.

"You read the obituary and you hear about how so-and-so founded the business or was one of the first doctors in town," Kelly says. "It kind of brings history to life."

Kelly knelt down to take a picture of Ronald Nagorski's headstone.

"Now I can add a picture and GPS coordinates to it, and the next person can walk right to it. It won't take them as long to find Nagorski," she said. "It's gratifying."