Local legends tell of ghostly sightings at the IOOF Cemetery in Gregory, such as that of an elderly man wandering amongst the headstones, seemingly looking for someone. When approached with an offer for help, however, he vanishes.
Another commonly reported sighting is that of a young soldier, typically sitting under a tree on a sunny day; again, if anyone gets close, he disappears.
Those stories were shared by Kate DeMers and read by Ronda Graber to a number of brave souls who showed up in high spirits for the Gregory County Historical Society’s Cemetery Walk, but the historical society had a different kind of ghost in mind when they scheduled the event there on the evening of September 6. Oral interpretation students from Gregory High School played the parts of a half dozen of the town’s ancestors, reiterating a few highlights from the lives of these residents who had some kind of impact on the development of the town, and telling those stories in the first person as if they had come back from the dead to ensure their legacy.
Gregory officially became a town in 1904, but the IOOF Cemetery wasn’t organized until 1910. It wasn’t that people weren’t dying before 1910 – they were just being buried in private cemeteries or in a small area on the southwest part of Ben Lancaster’s homestead, northwest of the buttes, which he had given for this purpose. Lancaster’s cemetery wasn’t an ideal location, however, as the west entrance was impossible to use during wet months.
The local Odd Fellows came to the rescue. Odd Fellow lodges throughout the state had become caretakers of cemeteries as part of their oath to visit the sick and bury the dead. They first looked at a parcel of land on the east side of Gregory and raised $11 to this end. At their next meeting, they reevaluated that decision and instead agreed to purchase ten acres on the west side town for $1000. The first lots were sold for $10 each, and the Odd Fellows used that money to hire a surveyor to properly lay out lots and avenues.
The first burial in the new IOOF Cemetery was on April 30, 1911, for Everett Powell, who had died at the age of six months. Once the new cemetery was established, many graves were moved there from the old cemetery – all children. Many homesteaders who had buried children on their farms also had them brought to the new cemetery. Of the six inhabitants portrayed at the event, Alfred Hutchison was the first to be buried in the cemetery.
Aubree Miller, as Hutchison, informed the crowd that he had been born March 3, 1896, in Climbing Hills, Iowa, the first of ten children. The family moved to Gregory County in 1904, when the area opened for homesteading. In 1917, at the age of 21, Hutchison joined the Army. He arrived on French soil in October of that year, and was promoted to the rank of Private First Class (PFC) in May 1918. In June, he was killed in action. Hutchison’s body and personal effects were placed in a temporary grave and later moved to a more permanent gravesite in an American cemetery in France. His body was finally returned to the United States in 1921, and was buried in the IOOF Cemetery on September 4 of that year.
Gregory’s veterans honored Hutchison by establishing American Legion Post #4 and naming it after him. Bo Brozik told the story of Carl Hennrich, who had moved to Gregory County by 1911, residing about ten miles northeast of Gregory. He and his family operated a dairy for 35 years, milking all 35 cows by hand and delivering that milk with horses – or a bobsled in the snow. Hennrich was one of the original organizers of the Rosebud Electric Cooperative and served on the board of directors for 22 years.
Dema Patterson was portrayed by Ella Sperl. Dema was the four year old daughter of the mayor of Dallas when she was selected as one of two little girls to draw the first numbers for the Tripp County land opening on December 19, 1908.
Madi Graber played the part of Abraham Carlson, who had been born October 25, 1863, near Gothenburg, Sweden. He immigrated to the United States around 1884, and in 1906, bought a homestead three miles northwest of Carlock. In addition to raising hogs and cattle and breaking horses, Carlson bought a big gas tractor and an eight bottom breaking plow and hired an engineer and plowman to break prairie from spring until fall. He bought and moved the last house out of Carlock – Art Foss’ house – and put it ten miles south of Gregory. It later became the home for the Carl Holmberg family.
Emma Grosvenor, the ghost portrayed by Lilly Jacobsen, was a prominent member of the Dallas community, serving as the president of the Methodist Aid Society and the primary Sunday school teacher for many years. Her wedding dress is on display in the Gregory County Historical Museum, as well as a quilt that the Methodist church ladies made that has her name embroidered on it.
John Burnie Dyer owned Gregory Cement Works in Gregory for many years until 1964. Cindy Khuu, as his ghost, reported that he served as mayor for six years and was a member of the town board for many more. Some of the projects accomplished during that time were the completion of the city airport, the change from Randall to Rosebud Electric Company for city power, the extension of sewer service, street paving, and the establishment of the present street lighting system. They also brought the city hospital to a vote of the people and dug new water wells. If the graves could speak, many more stories could have been told that evening – but they will have to wait for the Gregory County Historical Society to host another Cemetery Walk.
Author Patty Connealy, originally published in the Gregory Times-Advocate on October 4, 2023