At St. Joseph Cemetery Sunday evening

Notable past Jeffersonians to be portrayed

when local Catholics “Meet Our Ancestors”

    The congregation of St. Joseph Catholic Church in Jefferson is celebrating 100 years in its church building this year, and the public is invited to an event Sunday evening when notable Jefferson characters of the past will help make history come alive. 

    It’s the “Meet Our Ancestors” tour of St. Joseph Cemetery, located in the northwest corner of town, beginning at 6 p.m.  The public is invited, there is no charge and free refreshments will be served. 

    Current parish members and a few others will costume up and portray people who were well-known church and community members through the decades, and will be standing at the gravesites scattered throughout the cemetery.  There are expected to be 20 or more portrayals.  The characters will tell their own stories, in first-person, and they will even answer questions from those who come to the cemetery for the tour. 

    “I’ve seen a couple other cemetery tours like this, and they are a great way to bring history to life,” said Chuck Offenburger, the parish member coordinating the event. “We had one in the Cooper cemetery in 2006 during the town’s 125^th anniversary. Some people find it a little startling to see characters, at the graves, telling the stories of the dead, and some even think it’s a little creepy.  But it’s really a way to pay tribute to our ancestors, hear some great stories from the past, and learn how things came to be the way they are today.” 

    Among the people of the past whose stories will be shared, some have been dead for a century.  For example, Tim McCoy will be portraying his great-great grandfather Patrick Minnihan, who was born in 1834 and was one of the Irish immigrants who helped settle Greene County.  Bridget McGregor will portray her great-great-great grandmother Bridget Hughes McNulty.   

    But some who will be featured have died in the recent past.  For example, decorated World War II soldier Farrell Sullivan, who died in 2008, will be portrayed by Nathan Steussy, who is a senior at Jefferson-Scranton High School.  Steussy will be playing a young Sullivan, when he was 18 years old and a senior in high school, too.  Sullivan, through Steussy, will explain how two years into the future, he will be in World War II, in which he will be wounded and be decorated with the Purple Heart and Bronze Star, and he’ll tell about his life extending into the decades ahead. 

    Rev. Don Ries, current pastor of St. Joseph Church, will be portraying Rev. J.P. “Mickey” McGuire, the pastor from 1955-1962.  And Rev. Bill Brunner, a priest who grew up here and returned to Jefferson in retirement, will portray an earlier St. Joseph pastor, Rev. A.E. Zimmerman, a noted poet and artist who presided here from 1932 to ’55. The two former pastors are buried in adjacent graves in the middle of the cemetery. 

    Among other portrayals will be James Fredrick “Fred” Cuddy, by his grandson Phil Phillips-Schrock, who now lives in Urbandale; Thomas Tiffany, by his son, Dennis Tiffany; Catherine Kiley Nally, by Jane Alexander; Maggie Leonard, by her great niece Jane Rowland; “Patsy” Cudahy, by Dennis McGregor; Veronica McNulty, by Sheilah Pound; John McNulty, by Stu McGregor; Margaret Nally, by Anna Pound; Maggie Cudahy, by Monica McGregor; Mary Carmel Schilling, by Essie Kowaleski; revered school teacher Laura Herman, by Elaine Wiggins; Raymond & DeSales Tiffany, by their grandson Jon Tiffany and his wife Jayne; Margaret Baker, by Joan Sorenson, and Frank White, by his grandson Dick Davis. 

    A few others may be added by Sunday evening’s cemetery tour. 

    The Greene County Community Players have assisted the event by providing some costumes. 

    The St. Joseph congregation traces its roots to about 1866, when the first masses were held in pioneer homes.  In 1876, the first church was established in a building purchased from the former Congregational Church.  That building was eventually moved to the present location of St. Joseph at 503 N. Chestnut Street.  Construction on the current church began in 1909.  Today it is the oldest church building in Jefferson. 

    The St. Joseph Cemetery was originally named Golgotha Cemetery, taking its name from the hill where Jesus Christ was crucified.  The cemetery was owned and maintained by the church until 1995, when ownership was turned over to the City of Jefferson.  Several hundred people are buried there.   

    The 100-year celebration culminates the weekend of September 18-20 with a full line-up of activities that will be announced later.