St. Mary's Cemetery Marker

St. Mary’s Cemetery was founded in 1883 by German families who had recently settled in the area and named their community “Westphalia,” after their German home province. Casper Hoelscher, Frank Wunsch, Theodore Rabroker, J.G. Bockholt and Frank Glass each contributed to the purchase of 100 acres, which were then donated for the establishment of a community school, church, priest’s residence and cemetery.

The oldest grave in the cemetery is the 1884 burial of five-year-old Heinrich Bernard Lenz, son of Mr. and Mrs. Fritz Lenz. As with many of the early grave markers in the cemetery, Lenz’s is inscribed in German. The oldest graves in the cemetery are located in the northern section of the site. A large metal cross i the north section of the cemetery marks the grave of Theodore Rabroker, Westphalia’s first settler, and one of the donors of the cemetery property. Veterans of the Civil War, World War I, World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War and the Persian Gulf War are interred at the site.

A cemetery association was formed prior to 1922, and early association members were required to pay dues for cemetery upkeep. Although the practice has been discontinued, the cemetery remains open for the burial of parishioners of the Church of the Visitation. Today, the Association Board consists of four church parishioners and the presiding priest. As the primary resting place for the earliest settlers of Westphalia, St. Mary’s Cemetery remains today as a symbol of these early pioneers.