The ground freezes in the cemetery generally by early December.  If you have a cremation burial that is pending, please schedule it before December 1 or it will likely not be possible until May.  

Contact:  wolfcreekcemetery@gmail.com   Sexton:  715 553 1528  

What Happens When There Is a Burial at Wolf Creek Cemetery?

When a death occurs and the burial is to be at Wolf Creek Cemetery, these are the steps that usually take place:

1. Notification

The cemetery is contacted—most often by a funeral home, but sometimes directly by a family member—about the death, the type of burial (full or cremation), and the planned date.

2. Grave Ownership

We check whether the deceased already owns a grave site.

• Existing graves: Many families already own a lot, sometimes purchased decades ago.

• New purchase: If not, we sell graves at $350 each. One grave can hold either one full burial or up to two cremations. The family chooses the site during a visit to the cemetery.
  
  

3. Marking the Site

Small marker flags are used to outline the exact location of the opening—smaller for cremation, larger and deeper for a full burial.

4. Digging the Grave

Our grave digger hand-digs the opening in the sandy soil:  Cost is $75 for a cremation and $600 for a full burial.  

• Sod is carefully cut and saved.

• Excess soil is hauled to the storage pile. With a full burial, about two-thirds of the soil is not replaced because the vault and casket take up space.

• Because sand dries and collapses, graves cannot be opened more than a day before the burial.
  
  

5. Burial Preparations

• For full burials, the vault company arrives on the day of the service. They set the vault into the opening and install the lowering device for the casket.

• Cremation burials require a smaller opening and no vault machinery.
  
  

6. The Service

Services vary: some are small gatherings of family, while others are large with a luncheon afterward at the nearby church or another location chosen by the family.

7. Closing the Grave

After the service, the grave digger returns to:

• Complete the burial,

• Replace sod, ana

• Remove excess soil.
  
  

8. Records and Paperwork

The cemetery requires the Disposition of Remains form from the funeral home.
We also:

Record the burial in our cemetery records,

• Note the grave location, and

• Take photographs of the opening for future reference.
  
  

The Wolf Creek Cemetery began in 1857 first as a community cemetery, then as the Town of Sterling Cemetery and in 1938 was taken over by a non-profit, all volunteer Wolf Creek Cemetery Association with an elected board, board meetings open to the public and an annual meeting.  

Wolf Creek Cemetery Association Annual Meeting is May of each year.  Members of the Wolf Creek Cemetery Association are people who own graves in the cemetery. The cemetery is run by a board of directors, elected from the members for 5-year terms and include a Chairman, Secretary, Treasurer and Sexton. The annual meeting is to set goals and review policies and make changes needed.   

  Contact for the cemetery activities is the Sexton, Russ Hanson  715 553 1528 cell or home 715 488 2415.  Email Wolfcreekcemetery@gmail.com  Mailing Address:  Wolf Creek Cemetery, Box 755  Cushing, WI 54006.  All burials, grave purchases, gravestone placement and other activities should be coordinated with the Sexton.  

Donations are appreciated!  A check to the Wolf Creek Cemetery Association and mailed to the above address. 

Graves are sold at $350 each, and can be used for a single full burial or two cremation burials.  Contact the sexton for other information.  

Winter Burials 

Winter burials can be almost impossible and so we try to avoid them if possible.  To do a winter burial when the snow is on the ground, we have to hire a snow plow to plow the cemetery and parking area (church lot).  Then we have to shovel a 20x20 area around the grave, and to it.  Then locate the exact spot from the lot corners.  Then thaw the ground that is usually frozen.  That means maintaining a fire above ground for several days in a closed shelter to melt the frost.  The dirt removed has to be hauled away and kept in a heated garage so it won't freeze in a big pile that can't be put back in the grave.  A wide path has to be shoveled in the cemetery avoiding gravestones for the vault delivery machine and then for the people coming to the graveside service.  And it has to be filled in with unfrozen dirt.  

In the past 5 years we have done only one burial in mid winter and that cost the family a multiple of the normal summer $600 fee for digging a full burial.  

Cremations have not been a problem as most folks just wait until nice weather to have the cemetery burial and service.   Cremation burials cost $75 for opening and closing the grave.  

We have a Facebook Page 

The Sterling Eureka and Laketown Historical Society published a highly illustrated 360 page book on Wolf Creek history.  They are for sale at the museum in Cushing as well as on Amazon or by mailing the museum SELHS, Box 755, Cushing, WI 54006.  The books cost $20 plus $5 shipping with all of the profit going to the cemetery for ongoing maintenance.