By Patricia A. Scheyer
NKyTribune reporter
Mother of God Cemetery is in full bloom right now, with full leaf cover on all the trees and flowers blooming in the late spring weather, nature’s gentle decoration for the 44 acres of land dedicated to the perpetual rest of so many people.
Behind the scenes, a significant change has happened; a changing of the guard – a new superintendent taking over from the old.
Tim Norris has formally taken over as Superintendent of the cemetery, a gradual hand-over of the job from Phil Zumdick, who decided to retire after 35 years.
“We have kind of been planning for this,” said Zumdick. “My wife Jenny and I have been wanting to get a house of our own. About two years ago we noticed one of our seasonals, Tim, who does a great job, and the board offered him the position if he worked here full time for two years. So we put the wheels in motion, and Tim took over on April 1.”
Thirty-five years ago, Zumdick was offered the job by the board, because they had heard that he was in construction and residential contracting, and had experience in welding, and he was someone they wanted to supervise the cemetery. The position used to be called a ‘sexton.’ but over the years it officially changed to ‘superintendent.’
The offer included a house on the grounds next to the office, a five bedroom house, which Phil and Jenny have called their home for 35 years. At least one of their four children was born while they were living there.
Did they have any reservations about living in a cemetery?
“I don’t have any spooky stories,” he laughed. “Sure, you think about it, but it is really pretty quiet in the evenings. There are people here during the day because it is a business.. You know we bury 180 people a year, on average.”
Zumdick grew up in Covington, up around the Wallace Woods area near the old St Elizabeth. He went to St Benedict school and he and his wife still belong to the parish. He attended Holmes High School.
Part of his job as superintendent was overseeing the crews that kept the grounds in good shape as well as hiring the crews that dig the graves with the back hoes. He also managed the office with the records and sales, as well as the 2 other full time people, and at least five seasonal employees.
“We have two mausoleums, and 8 columbariums, which are freestanding units that house the ashes of people who have been cremated,” he explained. “The cemetery was started by the German Catholic community in 1887 and was incorporated in January of 1888. This cemetery is a stand alone non-profit, originally in Latonia in Covington, but due to some annexations we are in Fort Wright. There were originally more acres, but in the late 1980’s they gave 7 acres back to the state for when the 3L highway was widened. There was also a chapel built in 1888 that has since been converted into a columbarium.”
Zumdick said his favorite thing about the job has been the local history, and learning about the history of the area, as well as talking with the families.
“I don’t know what the earliest burial here was,” he explained. “There was a very small cemetery, at West 26th Street. There weren’t many graves there, and they called it St. Joseph’s cemetery, and the area was called Buena Vista. The burials there predated ours at Mother of God, but the graves were moved over to ours by their families and there are no more graves there. The site is now the Kenton County Boys and Girls Center.”
While he figured the dates on those graves could be anywhere from 1840 on, he doesn’t know the oldest burial date. He said he thought that the German population was coming to this area very quickly, so they had to purchase more land, and that became the Mother of God Cemetery. Many families then bought family plots that might have had 10 to 15 sites in it for the entire family, but now the trend is to buy a plot with two sites, one for a husband and a wife.
Zumdick and his wife have purchased another house in Ft. Wright, on Ft. Henry Drive, and they moved in last week. He said they are farther away from main roads, so it is quieter, with fewer sirens and traffic sounds.
He said he doesn’t have plans to travel, except to Fort Knox, where his three grandsons and their parents live. Another daughter will be living in North Carolina, and the other two children live in this area.
“They have invited me to be on the board,” he said. “The board consists of about 8 or 9 members. I have a ton of knowledge in my head. I have seen the board turn over completely three times since I have been here. Once upon a time they had about 18 on the board, because of the amount of parishes contributing to the cemetery, but it is smaller now… And I will be on the standing committee.”
He said he will probably do some light contracting work just to keep busy.
Zumdick is pleased with the work that Tim Norris has done, and also happy that he is still a part of the cemetery he has come to feel a kinship of sorts with.
“Tim is more computer oriented, and I think we needed more of that,” he said. “It has been a very good transition.”