The stories of nine departed individuals will be brought back to life on Saturday, Oct. 26 as a part of the third annual Tombstone Talks held in Saint Boniface’s Cemetery of the Angels in Sublimity.
“I think it’s really honoring the people who have gone before us and honoring their life,” organizer Brooke McKirdy explained. The event aims to share the stories of “people from all walks of life who were known to have made an impact on the community” of Sublimity.
“Walking through the cemetery you see graves going back over 100 years,” fellow volunteer Steven Boedigheimer said. He added, “Brooke does a good job of seeing which names are represented today.”
Honoring members of the Silbernagle, Schumacher, Lulay, Heuberger, Hendricks and Schmid families this year, the narratives aim to be both truthful and compelling, with the organizers spending months compiling research and meeting with surviving family members.
“We give the relatives key questions, but they often end up writing pages,” McKirdy said.
“And also, occasionally the family learns from the experience,” Boedigheimer added. “We have families learning their own family history because the event brings out details.”
Those details – along with the period accurate costumes the actors don for the event – are what makes Tombstone Talks such a realistic historical account of early life in Sublimity.
“Each character brings a different history, so they’re not all approached the same way,” Boedigheimer said. Tours last about 90 minutes. A horse-drawn carriage ride, a chicken noodle dinner, access to the church archives in the Parish Center and a silent auction will also take place between 12 and 6 p.m.
“The funds raised from the event go to maintain the second oldest continuously running Catholic Church in Oregon,” Boedigheimer said, referring to Saint Boniface Church, which was built in 1889. “It’s a community event where the central focus is maintaining a historic structure… and celebrating the history of this town.”
Cemetery tales & tours Oct. 26
Celebrating the lives of pioneers, entrepreneurs and political figures.Saint Boniface’s Cemetery of Holy Angels
375 Southeast Church St., Sublimity
Tours: noon – 4 p.m.: $5 for 10 and older Preregister at www.saintboniface.net.
