Graveyard tour respects pioneers under the moonlight

Fairview Cemetery Graveyard Tour
T. Lucas photos

Toni Lucas

The Pincher Creek and District Historical Society held a moonlit graveyard tour on Tuesday, August 20.

 Over 30 people went on the journey that started at Kootenai Brown Pioneer Village (KBPV) and led to the Fairview Cemetery east of town.  The procession was led by a 1928 Chevrolet truck that was converted into a hearse by local funeral director Roy Smyth, who passed away last year.

Roy Smyth's 1928 Chevrolet hearse

"Some of the headstones we will be visiting date back to the 1890's," said host and KBPV Curator Farley Wuth.  "Tonight we will visit NWMP officers, early ranchers, some of the Metis population, business people and women.  It was a difficult job to decide who to include in our tour, because there are so many interesting frontier people in that cemetery to represent."  Wuth tried to create a tour that had a wide ranging representation of early life in our then fledgling community.

Tess Larson shines a light for Carol Berridge during her presentation

This tour was to honour pioneers that helped shape the beginnings of our town and area.   The tour  moved from marker to marker under a full moon.  Standing beside the grave sites, costumed volunteers gave a summary of the life of the interred.

Garrit Terpstra and Catherine DeCock representing pioneers

The nighttime setting gave a sobering tone to the venture, adding a quiet majesty to the outing.

Twenty six early settlers were profiled during the tour that took from 10:00 pm until just after midnight.  The society plans to have more graveyard tours in the future featuring different pioneers and including different cemeteries.

The evening ended with Wuth requesting that everyone bow their heads and give a moment of reflective thought and silence for those who were visited and came before us carving a path in the past here, in what was then a new world.

As one of the volunteers, I enjoyed the experience of representing some of our pioneers.

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