"What I've come to appreciate is that death is an equalizer."
The statement made by Duane Blanck set the stage for the tour he was providing with John Van Essen Saturday of Evergreen Cemetery during Brainerd History Week. His meaning was no matter if a person is rich or poor, accomplished or simple, death will find everyone.
Nearly 40 people gathered inside the cemetery gates for the third annual tour, which visited some of the gravesites of Brainerd's most instrumental residents. The cemetery, originally formed in 1873 and incorporated in 1879, is completely run by volunteers. It receives no state or federal funds. A board of nine trustees and a full-time superintendent oversee all activities. With the primary job consisting of mowing, volunteers also assist in all burials, marker setting, and maintenance required to keep the 35 acres with over 17,000 interments in order.
Blanck, who became involved with the cemetery after having several family members buried there, expressed, "Some monuments are very simple, even though they (the deceased) played an important role in the development of the city. Others are very elaborate."
As the tour progressed Blanck spoke of one problem volunteers have run into over the years, which is the settling of some of the headstones. It is then their task to attempt to correct them. Blanck says, "we can hardly afford to keep the grass mowed with the resources that we have."
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One question posed by tour members was, "Where is the Santa monument?" A few of them recall a monument attributed to "Santa" while walking through the cemetery as children. Blanck said he had never heard of it. Upon researching the name in the Evergreen's Directory of the Dead, there were five people with the last name "Santa" buried there between the years 1891-1937 which would explain the monument. However, it is in no way correlated to the infamous Santa Claus.
Some of the grave sites visited on this year's tour were: former Brainerd fire chief Nicholas Heller, former city council president Tim Toohey, William Brockway owner of East Brainerd Hotel, former Crow Wing County attorney Judge James Warner, former pharmacist and drugstore owner Henry Elvig, and resident cigar maker Charles Lange.
To pass the time between graves Blanck shared the personal story of his parents marrying on the day Baby Face Nelson robbed the Brainerd First National Bank in 1933. He joked that it was the perfect way for his father to remember their anniversary. As the newlyweds drove out of town for their honeymoon some prankster friends of theirs had notified Little Falls police providing a description of their car being involved with the robbery. They were stopped and then let go after a brief explanation.
Local Girl Scout Troops 306 and 599 assisted at the event helping tourists sign in and serving bottles of water along the route.
Currently there are two board member openings available at Evergreen and they are always looking for volunteers to help with groundskeeping, especially after storms blow through the area.
