For the third year in a row, the Office of Diocesan Archives will be presenting a tour of Springfield's Calvary Cemetery called Walk with your Ancestors on Sunday, Oct. 16 from 1 to 3 p.m. The walk features six stops where volunteers dressed in period costumes or religious dress will give an account of the life of the person buried there.
Groups will leave for the approximately one-mile guided walk every 15 minutes, with the last tour starting at 3 p.m. The walks will last between 60 and 90 minutes and wheelchairs will be available.
Among the "ancestors" featured will be Mother Joseph Woulfe, OSU, who was foundress of the Ursuline community in Springfield; a bootlegger; an opera singer and several more. Most of the actors and actresses are adults from Springfield; however the young man who will portray the bootlegger is a teenager from Jacksonville.
"I think that the presentation about (opera singer) Bessie O'Brien Lantry will be really special," says Michele Levandoski, director of Archives and Records Management, of the characterization that will be provided by Nichol DelGiorno, director of liturgy and music for Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception and associate director of music for the diocese. "Nichol will actually be singing some of the opera pieces that Bessie would have sung during her lifetime."
Levandoski says as an historian she looks forward to putting the walk together. "It provides an opportunity to showcase the interesting and diverse lives of some of the people buried at Calvary Cemetery," she says. "Everyone has a story to tell, and yes, some are more interesting than others, but everyone's story is important.
"This walk is a good way to promote the cemetery and to give people an opportunity to learn more about Springfield history. The walk is important because it honors the lives of the people buried at Calvary with the added benefit of being a fun outing for a Sunday afternoon."
Levandoski says she chooses to honor people for different reasons. "Sometimes the person featured is chosen because I can use their life or death to provide more information about larger historical events that occurred at a particular time, such as Art Gramlich who was very active in the mine wars of the 1930s. Other people, like Bessie O'Brien Lantry, lived interesting lives in their own right.
"I also choose the characters in a variety of ways," Levandoski says. "Most of the stories I stumble upon, usually while searching for something else. For example, I was searching for an obituary for last year's walk when I accidentally found the story of the train robbery in Glenarm that will be featured in this year's walk. I saw that two of the men involved were Irish and I crossed my fingers that either would be buried at Calvary. It turns out that they were both buried there!
"Sometimes I find an interesting tombstone and then research that person to see what I can find," she says. "I'm always looking for future characters, so if anyone knows about someone interesting who is buried there, please let me know."
Walk with your Ancestors is sponsored by Staab Funeral Home, Arnold Monument Company, Vancil-Murphy Funeral Home and Butler Funeral Homes. Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for children ages 7-12 and can be purchased at the Calvary Cemetery Office, 2001 N. First St. in Springfield or at the Catholic Pastoral Center at 1615 W. Washington in Springfield. Tickets will also be available the day of the walk.
Proceeds from the event will benefit Calvary Cemetery and the Diocesan Archives. For more information go to www.archives.dio.org/walk; or call the Calvery Cemetery Office at (217) 523-3726 or Michele Levandoski at (217) 622-3223.
Whom you will meet on annual cemetery tour
This year six characters will be featured on the Calvary Cemetery Walk with your Ancestors. Here is how Michele Levandoski, director of Archives and Record Management, describes the people who'll be represented.
Arthur Gramlich (1904-1974) was a member of the Progressive Miners of America and was heavily involved in what is known as the Mine Wars in 1930s central Illinois. As a result of his involvement, he was shot, his father was killed and he served time in prison for being involved in a conspiracy to blow up train tracks to halt the movement of coal from antagonist coal mines.
Bessie O'Brien Lantry (1878-1967) was a well-known opera singer. As a teenager, she went to Paris to study under one of the most famous opera teachers of the 19th century, Madame Mathilde Marchesi. O'Brien Lantry returned to the United States in 1897 and sang at various concerts and toured throughout Illinois.
Jasper Aiello (1907-1927) was shot 15 times by unknown assailants, most likely as the result of a bootlegging deal gone bad.
Johanna Welch will discuss her son Edward Welch (1874-1898) who died in the Virden Mine Riot of 1898. The riot began over a wage dispute and the mine manager's attempt to import African-American miners from Alabama to take over the jobs of the Virden miners.
George Marney (1878-1940) was the legislative and political reporter at the Illinois State Journal for over 25 years. He was well-known in political circles and will also talk about his most exciting story, which was a train robbery near Glenarm in 1913.
Mother Joseph Woulfe, OSU (1815-1890) was one of the founding nuns at Ursuline Academy. She will speak about her life and the founding of the academy.