Former educator examines the lighter side of cemeteries
By Joanne Fox, Journal staff writer | Posted: Monday, October 03, 2005
Don Keck kneels at the Floyd Cemetery tombstone of Civil War Medal of Honor recipient Sgt. Edward Spalding. In his retirement, Keck has started looking at the lighter side of Siouxland cemeteries. (Staff photo by Tim Hynds)
Don Keck has developed what one might call a "deadly" sense of humor.
The local lecturer and retired educator volunteers to deliver talks on the unusual side of Siouxland's cemeteries. The interest surfaced in a health-conscious way.
"After I retired, I started walking for exercise and just got tired of stopping for traffic, signal lights and dogs," recalled the former West Middle School instructor.
A friend recommended Keck rework his route through Graceland Cemetery.
"I'll bet I wasn't 100 yards into the cemetery, when I noticed a footstone," he said. "It said the gentleman was a veteran of the Indian Wars."
The former social studies teacher was intrigued with the idea that history could be found in our own backyards and started walking through Sioux City cemeteries looking for the out-of-the ordinary.
He's up to 357 cemeteries now and so many photographs that he now breaks down the information and photos into a variety of categories.
"Here's one of a woman named Bloomer who wrote about, well, bloomers," he said as he paged through a photo album. "She wrote about them as a women's libber."
Another photo shows the gravestone of Richard Hart from the Homer, Neb., cemetery. Sounds unremarkable until Keck shared the story.
"This is Al Capone's brother," he said. "When he returned from World War I and found out what his brother was doing, he wanted no part of him and moved to the Midwest and adopted this name. Ultimately, he became a deputy U.S. marshal and a highly respected revenue agent."
A most unique mausoleum can be found in Hiawatha, Kan., an area not unfamiliar to Keck who lived for almost two years in Falls City, Neb., just 17 miles away.
"Here they crafted three different, life-size, statues of a husband and wife as young, middle-aged and old," Keck said, pointing to several different photos.
George O. Whistler's footstone in the Crofton, Neb., cemetery caught Keck's sharp teacher's eyes for an brow-raising reaction.
"The stone issued by the government says his birthday is 1875 and the family stone says his birthday is 1870," he said. "I discovered that Whistler lied about his birthday to get into the Army."
Keck shared that story when he spoke at a gathering in Homer and Whistler's grandnieces were in the audience.
"I could see them leaning over and talking and their heads nodding," he said. "I was so relieved when they approached me later and I asked if I was right about the discrepancy and they both nodded yes."
Keck averages eight to 10 speaking engagements a year. His next one, "Cemeteries: Sad, Bad and Glad" is at 2 p.m., Oct. 11 on the campus of Western Iowa Tech as part of its Lifelong Learning program. Call 274-8733, ext., 1334 for more information.
But it's not all historical or genealogical idiosyncrasies that Keck unearths. Incorrect spellings abound in Keck's presentations. One stone in Wynot, Neb., has two spellings for the family name of Wiseman. Keck speculated that might be the result of two different stone masons carving either side.
There's also the bittersweet. One photo showed small tombstones that only had numbers to identify each gravesite.
"It's the poor farm in Harden County, near Steamboat Rock, Iowa," Keck explained. "They probably had no money to have anything else on the stone."
Or take for instance the tombstone one mile west of Albert City, Iowa. It simply reads BANK ROBBER, Nov. 21, 1901.
Keck hasn't found all of the cemetery data on his own. Since his first speaking engagement in 1996 at the Community Church in Castana, Iowa, Keck has had people approach him and mail him with graveyard oddities.
A former student mailed him a photo from Tombstone, Ariz. with a marker that reads, "Here lies George Johnson, Hanged by mistake, 1882, He was right, We was wrong. But we strung him up and now he's gone."
And it's not just people that Keck has unearthed in the odd side of tombstones. There's a monument to MIKE, the first transgenic bovine in Iowa with the inscription, "May his life generate the future" and the dates Oct. 13, 1998 -- Nov. 29, 2001. The stone is located just north of Sioux Center, Iowa, at Trans Ova Genetics.
"I like to look for that which shows that cemeteries aren't always sad," Keck mused. "I'm not out to find fault, just to have fun."
He added with a poker face, "When you actually see the word cemetery on the wrought iron gates misspelled, you'll know what I'm talking about."
Joanne Fox may be reached at (712) 293-4247 or joannefox@siouxcityjournal.com.
VITA
Name: Don Keck
Hometown: Sioux City
Education: 1947 East High graduate; awarded a bachelor's degree from Morningside College in 1954
Military: Korean War veteran, 1952-54
Professional: worked for Firestone Tires and the Weather Bureau before joining the faculty of West Junior in 1960; retired from West Middle in 1991
Personal: married to wife Virginia for 53 years; three children; nine grandchildren; three great-grandchildren
How he's making a difference: by volunteering to present his perspective on the lighter side of cemeteries
The local lecturer and retired educator volunteers to deliver talks on the unusual side of Siouxland's cemeteries. The interest surfaced in a health-conscious way.
"After I retired, I started walking for exercise and just got tired of stopping for traffic, signal lights and dogs," recalled the former West Middle School instructor.
A friend recommended Keck rework his route through Graceland Cemetery.
"I'll bet I wasn't 100 yards into the cemetery, when I noticed a footstone," he said. "It said the gentleman was a veteran of the Indian Wars."
The former social studies teacher was intrigued with the idea that history could be found in our own backyards and started walking through Sioux City cemeteries looking for the out-of-the ordinary.
He's up to 357 cemeteries now and so many photographs that he now breaks down the information and photos into a variety of categories.
"Here's one of a woman named Bloomer who wrote about, well, bloomers," he said as he paged through a photo album. "She wrote about them as a women's libber."
Another photo shows the gravestone of Richard Hart from the Homer, Neb., cemetery. Sounds unremarkable until Keck shared the story.
"This is Al Capone's brother," he said. "When he returned from World War I and found out what his brother was doing, he wanted no part of him and moved to the Midwest and adopted this name. Ultimately, he became a deputy U.S. marshal and a highly respected revenue agent."
A most unique mausoleum can be found in Hiawatha, Kan., an area not unfamiliar to Keck who lived for almost two years in Falls City, Neb., just 17 miles away.
"Here they crafted three different, life-size, statues of a husband and wife as young, middle-aged and old," Keck said, pointing to several different photos.
George O. Whistler's footstone in the Crofton, Neb., cemetery caught Keck's sharp teacher's eyes for an brow-raising reaction.
"The stone issued by the government says his birthday is 1875 and the family stone says his birthday is 1870," he said. "I discovered that Whistler lied about his birthday to get into the Army."
Keck shared that story when he spoke at a gathering in Homer and Whistler's grandnieces were in the audience.
"I could see them leaning over and talking and their heads nodding," he said. "I was so relieved when they approached me later and I asked if I was right about the discrepancy and they both nodded yes."
Keck averages eight to 10 speaking engagements a year. His next one, "Cemeteries: Sad, Bad and Glad" is at 2 p.m., Oct. 11 on the campus of Western Iowa Tech as part of its Lifelong Learning program. Call 274-8733, ext., 1334 for more information.
But it's not all historical or genealogical idiosyncrasies that Keck unearths. Incorrect spellings abound in Keck's presentations. One stone in Wynot, Neb., has two spellings for the family name of Wiseman. Keck speculated that might be the result of two different stone masons carving either side.
There's also the bittersweet. One photo showed small tombstones that only had numbers to identify each gravesite.
"It's the poor farm in Harden County, near Steamboat Rock, Iowa," Keck explained. "They probably had no money to have anything else on the stone."
Or take for instance the tombstone one mile west of Albert City, Iowa. It simply reads BANK ROBBER, Nov. 21, 1901.
Keck hasn't found all of the cemetery data on his own. Since his first speaking engagement in 1996 at the Community Church in Castana, Iowa, Keck has had people approach him and mail him with graveyard oddities.
A former student mailed him a photo from Tombstone, Ariz. with a marker that reads, "Here lies George Johnson, Hanged by mistake, 1882, He was right, We was wrong. But we strung him up and now he's gone."
And it's not just people that Keck has unearthed in the odd side of tombstones. There's a monument to MIKE, the first transgenic bovine in Iowa with the inscription, "May his life generate the future" and the dates Oct. 13, 1998 -- Nov. 29, 2001. The stone is located just north of Sioux Center, Iowa, at Trans Ova Genetics.
"I like to look for that which shows that cemeteries aren't always sad," Keck mused. "I'm not out to find fault, just to have fun."
He added with a poker face, "When you actually see the word cemetery on the wrought iron gates misspelled, you'll know what I'm talking about."
Joanne Fox may be reached at (712) 293-4247 or joannefox@siouxcityjournal.com.
VITA
Name: Don Keck
Hometown: Sioux City
Education: 1947 East High graduate; awarded a bachelor's degree from Morningside College in 1954
Military: Korean War veteran, 1952-54
Professional: worked for Firestone Tires and the Weather Bureau before joining the faculty of West Junior in 1960; retired from West Middle in 1991
Personal: married to wife Virginia for 53 years; three children; nine grandchildren; three great-grandchildren
How he's making a difference: by volunteering to present his perspective on the lighter side of cemeteries
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