Heading into Part II of my series on Forest Lawn Memorial Park, the first grave I want to talk about is one that may be the most talked about monument. You wouldn’t expect to see this type of bronze figure in a cemetery.

The monument was built for Joseph Josiah Wasserburger and his wife, Alma. Josiah was a manager for Household Finance (formerly Omaha Finance) and became quite wealthy from real estate investments. He and Alma had no children but lavished their love on their dogs. This well-written article can tell you more about them. Marta Dawes’ comprehensive Omaha cemetery web site provided me with much of the information you’ll read in this post.

Made by J. F. Bloom & Co. of Omaha, the monument is fashioned from Balfour pink granite (which you can also see at Wyuka). The company has been in business since 1879 and still operates today.

Josiah Wasserburger purchased the monument for $3,500 in 1938, 18 years before he and Alma died. This amount of money, in 2015 dollars, would be approximately $70,000. It’s certainly curious that they planned their memorial almost 20 years before their deaths.

The figure instantly reminded me of Lorado Taft’s ominous “Eternal Silence”, the sculpture at the grave of Dexter Graves in Chicago’s Graceland Cemetery, which was made 30 years before the Wasserburger one. The Marian “Clover” Adams memorial sculpture by Augustus Saint-Gaudens in Washington D.C. is also similar.

After Josiah retired in 1935, the couple did a lot of traveling. When they died, they left an estate valued at $100,000 in cash, and $25,000 in real estate. They donated the cash to Childrens’ Hospital, the Omaha Home for Boys, the Immanuel Deaconess Institute, and their church. The real estate estate proceeds went to family members. Josiah died in 1956 at the age of 84 and Alma died only five days later. She was 81.

I wandered over to the Gottlieb Storz mausoleum, one of two Storz mausoleums at Forest Lawn.

A German immigrant, Gottlieb Storz came to Omaha in 1876 and worked as a foreman for a local brewery. With skills learned in his native country, Storz’ reputation as a master brewer grew. Eventually, he opened his own facility in 1891 and over the years, Storz’ beers won prizes in international competitions.

While there was a dog’s face on the Jacobs mausoleum, this one has stunning twin angels and lions on them.

Like the Wasserburgers, Gottlieb Storz made his final wishes known long before he died at age 87. He wanted to have a funeral service at his home with his body lying in state.  He also wanted his fellow Elk lodge brothers to sing at the service. All of his wishes were granted before he was interred in this mausoleum. His wife, Minnie, is buried with him.

The Storz mansion, a beautiful Victorian home, was built in 1905. Built in the Jacobethan Revival style with beige brick and limestone trim, the mansion features a red tile roof, steep gables, rectangular windows, transoms and a symmetrical facade. Architects George Fisher and Harry Lawrie designed it.

The home is no longer owned by the Storz family, but was donated to Creighton University in 2002. The school sold it to a private family in 2007 who had plans to restore it.

Gottlieb’s younger son, Robert Herman Storz, has his own mausoleum not far away. He’s buried there with his wife, Mildred, and son, Robert Todd Storz.

Robert Howard Storz’ interests included raising prized cattle, serving on community boards for the Chamber of Commerce and Ak-Sar-Ben, spearheading the building of Clarkson Hospital and developing Memorial Park, whose dedication President Harry S. Truman attended. He donated millions to the Joslyn Art Museum and the Omaha Community Playhouse.

But it’s Robert Howard Storz’ son Robert Todd Storz (who went by his middle name, Todd) who is probably better known. In 1949, he and his father purchased Omaha radio station KOWH, which anchored Storz Broadcasting Co., a chain of radio stations. Todd was the station’s general manager.

Todd noticed the enthusiastic response certain songs received from the record-buying public and compared it to the way certain selections on jukeboxes were played over and over. Out of that observation came the origins of the Top 40 format that we know today. Many stations went on to copy it, making it a great success.

Sadly, at the height of his career, Storz died of a stroke in 1964. He was only 39. But his legacy has lived long after him at radio stations across the country.

The last mausoleum I’m going to talk about is notable for its Egyptian Revival-style motifs. The Bostwick mausoleum is where Henry “Harry” C. Bostwick, a wealthy banker, is interred.

I did a little research on the winged disc/cobras motif because I’ve seen this before on other mausoleums. It suggests that someone interred within was a Freemason. I’m guessing it was probably Harry since prominent residents of cities like Omaha were often involved in Masonic groups.

In Ancient Egypt, the winged disk was a combined emblem of the sun, a double-headed cobra and eagle or vulture wings. The cobra and the vulture represented Upper and Lower Egypt, in the geographical sense and in the sense of a Celestial Egypt and a Terrestrial Egypt. Such symbols are also associated with the Zodiac. Somehow, it all ties in with Freemasonry but it’s a lot more detailed than I can share here.

Born in New Jersey, Harry Bostwick moved out to Montrose, Colo. sometime in the 1870s. He helped develop a large fertile piece of land for growing potatoes. The area still bears a trace of his name, Bostwick Park Road.

After experiencing irrigation woes in Colorado, Harry headed for Omaha where he decided to enter the banking business. He found success, becoming president of the Stockyards Bank. Having never married, Harry died in 1920 and his estate passed to his niece and her daughter.

Next week, we’ll visit some more notable monuments and mausoleums. There’s much more to see at Forest Lawn next week in Part III.

After returning to Omaha from Wahoo, it was time to focus on the city’s largest and best known cemetery: Forest Lawn Memorial Park. The cemetery is located a good bit north of the where Christi lives, so it took us a little while to get there.

Forest Lawn opened a bit later than Wyuka (in Lincoln), established in 1885 by 10 men. At 346 acres, it is a non-profit cemetery.

The cemetery web site shares the history of Forest Lawn’s crematory, something I rarely see included. It notes that Forest Lawn performed the first cremation in Nebraska in 1913.

Built and designed by the Jarvis Engineering Company of Boston, the firebrick of Forest Lawn’s crematorium was molded from Western Pennsylvania clay. The large retorts (cremation chamber into which the body is placed) were originally oil fueled but were later converted to gas. The original retorts were retired from service in February 1996.

Forest Lawn’s office is thoroughly modern and welcoming. They didn’t have a detailed guide book like Wyuka’s, but they did provide a map that highlighted the locations of a number of famous Nebraskans’ graves. They also give tours if you call ahead of time to arrange one but as usual, we chose to explore on our own.

One of the more modern monuments we saw on the way to the chapel was for Jack K. Harvey. I couldn’t find out much about him online beyond the fact he had spent most of his life in Omaha and died at the age of 65. But the stained glass cross was definitely unique.

Forest Lawn’s chapel is located on the far east side of the property. Architect John McDonald and general contractor Walter Peterson were responsible for its design and construction. McDonald designed several Omaha buildings, including the home of George and Sarah Josylyn, which became known as Joslyn Castle. It still stands today.

On December 27, 1911, the Masonic Grand Lodge of Nebraska laid the cornerstone pf the chapel, which held a copy of the proceedings of the last meeting and history of the grand lodge of Nebraska Masons.

Unfortunately, the chapel was locked up when we were there and nobody was around to ask to open it for us.

From pictures I saw on the cemetery web site, the inside is quite ornate.

In the main auditorium is a frieze in high relief pure gold, designed in two-fold form, so it can be read upon entering and leaving the chapel; “Until the day break and shadows flee away”.

The lower level of the chapel contains the original crematory (no longer in use) and 50 glass-front door niches for cremated remains. A columbarium is also attached to the lower level with 24 temporary receiving vaults (which are no longer used).

The first funeral service held in the chapel was Mr. A. J. Manderson, a railroad worker and brother to General Charles F. Manderson on September 15, 1914. The first wedding service was held there in June 1984. It seats 75 guests and is available for other events such as family reunions and parties.

Our trip was not all sight seeing. We did have a mission to locate a few graves for Find a Grave photo requests, having gotten the locations from the office staff. Once our work was done, we drove up toward the center of the cemetery where the larger, older monuments were located. After getting out and wandering around a bit, I caught sight of this fellow.

This is the Elk Lodge #39 monument at Forest Lawn Memorial Park.

This large and majestic elk statue is perched atop a hillside boulder. Buried around it are various Elk Lodge members who wanted to be near each other. Apparently, several cemeteries across the country have one of these “Elks Rest” areas where members may be buried. Omaha’s Elk Lodge #39 installed the statue in 1922.

Forest Lawn has so many mausoleums, I’m sure I didn’t see them all. But I tried to look through the windows of as many as I could. The Jacobs mausoleum was one of the first and I found myself incredibly curious about the family.

The first person to be interred in the Jacobs mausoleum was John G. Jacobs, Jr., the son of John G. Jacobs, Sr. and his wife, Lillian. A native of Pennsylvania, the elder Jacobs came to Omaha sometime in the 1870s and became an undertaker. He eventually opened his own mortuary and was quite successful.

According to the U.S. Census, John G. Jacobs, Sr. was still single in 1880. But by 1883, he had married Lillian and she gave birth to a son, John G. Jacobs, Jr., in early 1883. John Sr. died at some point later that year and I haven’t been able to locate his grave. Since Forest Lawn didn’t open until 1885, he is likely buried elsewhere.

Lillian married one of John Sr.’s business partners, M.O. Maul, and he took over managing the mortuary. By 1910, M.O. Maul had died, leaving Lillian a widow once again.

John Jr. grew up and attended two different military academies. Upon graduation, he became a stenographer at his father’s former business while also managing a chicken ranch. He was well liked around Omaha and having inherited his father’s fortune, was headed for a bright future.

Sadly, according to the Omaha Bee, John Jr. became ill with some kind of stomach ailment and died on January 22, 1910 at the age of 26. It must have been a devastating blow to his mother.

The Jacobs mausoleum has a dog’s face etched into the front of the bronze door. It took me quite by surprise, having never seen such a thing. I don’t know if it’s the face of a much beloved canine that belonged to John Jr. but that the only guess I have.

Not long after John Jr.’s death, construction was underway on the new University of Nebraska’s Omaha campus. Lillian donated a piece of land for construction of a gymnasium to honor her son. Jacobs Hall was a hub for campus activity for many years until the 1960s when it was torn down along with several older campus buildings.

I don’t know what happened to Lillian, she’s not buried with John Jr. at Forest Lawn. From records on Ancestry.com, I could see she had traveled a good bit after John Jr.’s death but the last mention of her is in the Omaha City Directory in 1923. She may have remarried, thus changing her name.

There’s a lot more to see at Forest Lawn but I’ll wait until next week to dive into those discoveries in Part II.

After leaving Wyuka Cemetery, we were exhausted. And hungry. I saw that a local place called the Northside Cafe was on our way out of Lincoln so off we went.

While perusing the menu, I saw that they offered Stauffer’s pies. Stauffer’s Cafe is another eatery in town that apparently produces amazing pies and when the waitress pulled a sign over detailing the many varieties we could choose from, I knew we’d picked the right place. Delicious!

I also highly recommend the quesadillas and fried portabella mushrooms, which hit the spot after wandering all over Wyuka. Cemetery hopping is not for wimps!

Although we were heading back to Omaha, I wanted to stop in Wahoo to visit Sunrise Cemetery. I mean, who wouldn’t want to visit a town with a name like Wahoo?

We stopped at the Saunders County courthouse to check out some of the cool things they were doing to commemorate the U.S.S. Wahoo (a submarine that sank 20 Japanese ships during World War II before being sunk in October 1943). I also learned that famed Hollywood producer Darryl F. Zanuck was born in Wahoo. Then we headed for Sunrise Cemetery.

Wahoo’s cemeteries are intertwined in a complex way. Small Wahoo Cemetery, also known as Greenwood, is on the north side of town (there wasn’t time to stop). On the far Southeast side of town, on one side of County Road K, is small Sunrise North (which we also didn’t visit due to lack of time).

On the other side of the County Road K is Sunrise Cemetery (also called Knights of Honor Cemetery). Inside this cemetery, on the east side, is St. Francis Catholic Cemetery. We focused on these two.

The main reason I wanted to visit Sunrise Cemetery was to visit the grave of Ludmila “Lilyan” Fencl, one of Charles Starkweather’s murder victims. She was the maid for C. Lauer Ward and his wife, Clara Ward.

According to a 2009 article in the Journal Star, Lilyan’s father was a farmer while her mother worked in a cafe. As one of four children, Lilyan was the only one who did not marry and leave home. Instead, she went to work for the Wards in Lincoln. According to her nephew, Robert Laudenback, they became a second family to her.

He remembers his step-father’s sister as a timid soul, who didn’t have much of a social life and may have not completed high school. “She was seen and not heard most of the time. “

Lilyan, who never married, was 51 when Starweather shot and killed her. It’s hard to imagine why anyone would want to murder a gentle, hard-working woman who had lived a quiet life. But to Starkweather, she was just another person who got in the way of his twisted rampage.

Not far from Lilyan’s grave in St. Francis Cemetery was a grand monument that reminded me of many I have seen at Atlanta’s Westview Cemetery. It was made for Vincent and Marie “Mary” Simodynes.

The Simodynes were among the Saunders County founding families, having come with many other Czech immigrants starting in the late 1860s. Both Vincent and Mary were born in Nebraska to Czech parents. The Simodynes name appears often in U.S. Census records for the area and it looks like most of them were farmers.

Mary Simodynes died in 1920, at the age of 30. It’s my guess that the monument was made for her first. The Easter lily resting in the arms of the angel sometimes symbolizes youth and virtue.

Mary and Vincent had two children, Lloyd and Adeline. According to the U.S. Census, Vincent and the children were living in Los Angeles, Calif. by 1930. But by 1940, Vincent was back in Wahoo and had gotten remarried. Gennie Simodyne’s grave is nearby with other Simodynes family.

Mary’s maiden name was Koutny, so I’m sure this grave is of a child related to her. One of her uncles was named Lloyd and she named her first son Lloyd. In this case, Lloyd “Lloydie” Koutny did not live to see his second birthday.

It’s hard to miss the huge monument to Antoniae Smejkal. It’s the largest one in the entirety of both Sunrise and St. Francis Cemeteries.

The scene depicted is the Crucifixion of Jesus on the cross. I am not Catholic but it’s my belief that two of the three women are Mary, the mother of Jesus, and Mary Magdalene.

Antoniae Smejka was a Czech immigrant. Except for 1930 (the year she died), every time I found her in the U.S. Census records, she was listed as single or widowed.

I also discovered that she was the housekeeper of the priest at St. Wenceslaus Catholic Church, Father Matej (Matthew) Bor (also buried at St. Francis). Father Bor led several pastorates in the area starting in the 1890s. St. Wenceslaus, which manages St. Francis Cemetery, still has an active membership today. Her mother and three siblings are also buried at St. Francis, but not with Antoniae.

I can only guess that Antoniae’s many years of devotion to Father Bor was honored by parishioners with this grand monument. Like many monuments I find so amazing, I took many pictures from several angles.

The only mausoleum in the entire place belongs to the Kirchman family, headed by successful banker Wencl C. (W.C) Kirchman.

A Czech immigrant who was first a grocer in Pittsburgh, Pa., W.C. came out to Saunders County, Neb. in the 1870s and became co-owner of a general store in Prague. Considered one of the county’s pioneers, he eventually established several banks in the county. He was also postmaster in the 1890s and very active in local government.

W.C.’s younger brother, Frank (who was much younger than him), and their parents, arrived in Pittsburgh in 1868. In 1881, Frank joined W.C. in Nebraska and helped him manage his several banks, taking over for his brother after his death in 1924.

I was doing research on Frank’s lovely Queen Anne-style home that he had built in 1903 when I found a jolting bit of information about him. While he is not buried at Sunrise/St. Francis, his story is worth telling.

According to the application made to put the Kirchman home on the National Register of Historic Places, Frank Kirchman and his banks prospered until 1930 when the Depression hit the Midwest. Townspeople rushed the banks to collect their savings and soon discovered $26,400 missing.

In May 1930, Frank was found responsible for the missing money and arrested at his home. He was sentenced to a 60-year penitentiary term and fined $11,000. Soon after, he sold his beautiful home before beginning his term. Two of his nephews, sons of his brother W.C., worked for Frank in his banks and were convicted for lesser offenses.

Like a number of bankers who faced a similar fate, Frank appealed to the courts to have his sentence shortened. In 1936, his sentence was commuted and he was released from the penitentiary. His two nephews’ sentences were also commuted soon after.

Despite his frail appearance, Frank lived another 17 years before dying in 1953. He is buried in Calvary Cemetery in Alliance, Neb., almost 500 miles away from Wahoo.

It was time to get back on the road to head home to Omaha. There was one more Nebraska cemetery I wanted to see before I returned to Atlanta: Forest Lawn Memorial Park.