Cemetery project preserves rural history

By Joan Janzen

LIEBENTHAL – Many of our rural cemeteries are maintained thanks to dedicated volunteers who live nearby. The Liebenthal Sacred Heart Parish looks after the Liebenthal Cemetery located behind its church, along with St. John's, Josephstal and Rosenthal cemeteries.

Rosenthal Cemetery is a rural cemetery located 8 miles east and 2 miles south of Liebenthal, currently surrounded by pasture. It served members of the Rosenthal Church from 1914 and remained in use until 1944, although the church was moved in 1943.

Crystal Bosch and Kate Schmaltz stand in front of Rosenthal Cemetery located 8 miles east and 2 miles south of Liebenthal. Liebenthal's community cemetery project is helping preserve history for future generations. PHOTO SUBMITTED

Colin Greenwald, who lives near the Rosenthal Cemetery, is replacing a damaged marker with a new stone. PHOTO SUBMITTED

Crystal Bosch and her husband are members of the Liebenthal congregation who live near the Rosenthal Cemetery.

"I really noticed last year that we had more damage to the larger stones than in the past," she reported. "I was concerned that if we didn't fix them, that history would be lost."

Throughout the years, local community members have diligently mowed the cemeteries and have noticed markers knocked over by wildlife and iron crosses that have lost their original names. Over the years, time and weather have worn away many of the headstones. Some graves are broken, marked only with metal crosses or left unmarked.

Crystal contacted local resident Gerald Wagner. "As a former chairperson of our Parish Council, he had spearheaded the Cemetery Fund and mapping our local graveyards," Crystal said. "Gerald did a lot of research on cleaning and repairing stones, as well as the cost of making replacement stones for memorials."

Now the Liebenthal parish has initiated a cemetery project to place new markers on damaged graves, which include 37 in the Rosenthal Cemetery and 10 in Liebenthal Cemetery.

During the summer months, the community held work bees to clean up the cemeteries and fix some of the damaged stones. They have been able to purchase a few new stones with help from donations made to the Liebenthal Cemetery Fund. Interested individuals can learn more about the resting places in these cemeteries and find out if they have a loved one among them by visiting the Find a Grave memorial pages for Rosenthal and Liebenthal cemeteries.

"The local cemeteries hold our history," Crystal Bosch reported. "If we do not try to preserve what we know now, it is possible that all of the history of our district is lost and forgotten.”