Before enrolling in a Dallas mortuary school in 1963, Gary McIntosh worked two years at Waugh Funeral Home in Iola. As part of his duties, he was dispatched several times to mow the roadside cemetery near the old Allen County Home three miles north of town. The home, referred to as the Poor Farm, sheltered individuals destitute and devoid of family.
Now a county commissioner, McIntosh is eager to see the cemetery kept mown and presentable. In recent years, because of difficulty in getting a large mower to the site, the cemetery’s lawn has been neglected.
The former poor farm and its cemetery have belonged to Allen County Community College since the 1970s. Wooden crosses that marked graves were removed after nature rotted them.
Recently, some have questioned whether there are graves there at all. McIntosh and many others are convinced there are.
“Look at that,” McIntosh said Friday morning, pointing to a distinct depression in the ground. Looking further, he found others. “I’ve been in enough cemeteries to know there are graves here. Those depressions are a clear indication.”
Some people who responded to questions about the cemetery last year recalled having been present when burials occurred.
A Friday morning excursion saw McIntosh enlist the assistance of Bill King, county director of Public Works, to figure how best to take care of the land.
Between it and old U.S. 169 — now a county road, 1400 Street — is a deep ditch. The approach from the north is low and tends to trap rainwater in pools.
King’s suggestion was to install a steel whistle to ease moving a mower from trailer to cemetery. The work wouldn’t take long and could be done soon, King said.
Also, some means of identifying the cemetery will be erected, either a common cross identifying it as a graveyard of several unknown paupers or smaller ones, as in the past.
County will care for graves
