STORY: Grave Work

Huntingburg Vault Company gravedigger Earl Underhill of Gentryville sweeps dirt back into the grave as he cleaned up excess around the edges while opening a grave site on Sept. 22 in St. Anthony. Graves are usually dug about 58 inches deep.



Huntingburg Vault Company co-owner Mike Tretter, bottom right, waited for concrete to pour down a luge as he and co-owner Dennis Boeglin pour, fill and smooth six 2,500-pound concrete burial vaults for caskets for about 90 minutes on Oct. 11 in Huntingburg. Tretter, a former mechanic, and Boeglin, a former coal miner, took over the business from its former owners about 17 years ago.



Huntingburg Vault Company gravedigger Darrel Harris, left, sat in each chair to test it for durability and comfort as Orville Lemond, center, and Earl Underhill continued to prep the chairs and gravesite for the post-funeral procession in Enlow Cemetery on Oct. 12 in Jasper.



Orville Lemond of Huntingburg handed a flower that had dropped from the casket to Nikolas Stuckey of Jasper, 10, to place back atop as he paid his respects to his grandmother Deborah L. Stuckey of Huntingburg, who was buried Oct. 12 in Enlow Cemetery in Jasper.



Flowers, as well as any other personal belonging left by family members atop the casket, are buried undisturbed by the gravediggers. "Death can be a beautiful thing, if you let it be," said Huntingburg Vault Company gravedigger Orville Lemond.



Gravedigger Earl Underhill of Gentryville slowly lowered the casket of Deborah L. Stuckey of Huntingburg into the vault in the ground after her funeral procession Oct. 12 at Enlow Cemetery in Jasper. Flowers, as well as any other personal belonging left by family members atop the casket, are buried undisturbed by the gravediggers.



Gravedigger Darrel Harris of Celestine, left, pulled down a truckload of dirt with a Kubota tractor back onto the gravesite of Bryan Reckelhoff while Earl Underhill of Gentryville directed both Harris and Orville Lemond of Huntingburg, not pictured, who maneuvered the truck back between headstones on Sept. 22 at St. Anthony Catholic Church cemetery.



Gravedigger Darrel Harris of Celestine took a moment to respect the man, Bryan Reckelhoff, he and two others buried after a funeral on Sept. 22 at St. Anthony Catholic Church cemetery. "Death is naturally a part of life, and we are the ones to ensure a peaceful burial," Harris said.