The Blog

Lavina and Richard VanBeek have been caretakers at Maplewood Cemetery for nearly 40 years, burying many members of their own family in the grave yard they fondly think of as their own. Lavina, 84, and Richard, 92, live across the street from Maplewood, and have gone from hand-digging graves by lantern light to using modern tractors. They will be stepping down as Maplewood’s caretakers now that Richard has dementia and because of their age.