The title of this column is appropriate for the subject matter I will be writing about week. The sheriff’s department let me use four and sometimes five jail prisoners to help with a cleanup project at Hillside Cemetery.  Although none of these fellows are from Saguache, they have been very cooperative and have taken pride in their work to make the area look lots better. I have really enjoyed working with them and visiting about some of the unusual grave markers and telling stories about people buried in our cemetery. These young fellows were amazed at the number of graves of babies and children who died in 1918 from influenza, scarlet fever and diphtheria. I always like to point out the oldest grave marker in our cemetery which is of the Settle infant whose tombstone has a date of 1868. Other folks were buried there previous to that date, but have no tombstones showing when they died.

I have quite a long list ol unusual and interesting headstones, two of which are those of men killed by lightning. James Simmons’ tombstone has an engraving of a bolt of lightning coming from a cloud above and striking a man who is horseback.

Four of these  workers said that it would be Ok if I used their names, so I’d like to thank Al for letting me get a lot of work done and having an enjoyable time working  with Rodney, Ronald, Luis and Reyes.

One evening I saw Dave Martinez with his small tractor with attached blade. I mentioned that we could sure make good use that rig to rid some of the weeds in the roads at the cemetery. Within a few minutes Dave picked Ryan up from school and were soon busy doing what I’d asked for. It didn’t take long for them to get the job done, especially since second grader Ryan did most of the driving! Thanks guys for a big helping hand.

Spike Lovato hardly ever misses a day at the cemetery, as always I enjoy visiting with and listening to some of his memories of people buried there. We usually help each other recall names of folks from 50 or 60 years ago. It is a lot of fun trying to remember how families are related. Many people buried in Hillside Cemetery have close relatives buried in Chicago Cemetery which is about 5 miles west. 

Both cemeteries were established about the same time -  no records to show an exact date. 

Sonny and Mary Samora will soon mow and trim things at Hillside. When we get, things all spruced up, I would like to think that folks buried there will know they are not forgotten. REMEMBER WHEN?