Wheeling officials dig into mystery of old cemetery

For the past 30 years, Wheeling officials have quietly been taking care of a small, unnamed cemetery at Wolf and Dundee roads, spending up to $15,000 annually cutting grass and fixing its crumbling headstones.

They do it because no one else wants to.

No one is exactly sure who is buried there or what to do if someone wants to buy a plot. There are somewhere between 12 and 40 empty plots, said Jon Sfondilis, Wheeling's assistant village manager.

"The village doesn't have any record and has never sold any," Sfondilis said. "We're going to have to do some investigating and that may take some time."

On Monday, Trustee Dean Argiris asked village officials to research the cemetery so the board can figure out a policy. After all the cemetery dates back to the 1840s and isn't going anywhere.

"The taxpayers of Wheeling own that land," said Argiris. "If someone wants to buy a deed, we should have a policy."

Village President Judy Abruscato will be waiting. She'd love to call the cemetery home after she leaves village hall once and for all.

"I've lived in Wheeling my whole life, it would be perfect," she said. "Just put me in a jar and put me in the ground. People can wave as they drive past."

Right now, village officials don't know much about the cemetery. Sfondilis doesn't think it ever belonged to a specific church nor was it ever a cemetery for indigent residents. He's not sure if anyone well-known is buried there.

All of that will be researched. But Trustee Ken Brady can vouch it's more than 160 years old: He saw one headstone dated 1846.

Part of the new policy will be how much to charge per plot - for example, will the village discount lifelong Wheeling residents?

First, the village will have to figure out exactly how many open plots there are, which may be difficult. Some headstones are missing, and no one is sure if some open spots are unmarked graves or open space, said Village Manager Mark Rooney.

The cemetery fell into the village's hands in 1976 when a group of citizens who were taking care of it didn't want to anymore. They also handed over a $8,700 savings account, Rooney said.

"We of course have used up that amount many times over," Rooney said.

The cemetery is about 100 yards by 100 yards and has about 300 plots. It sees occasional activity when someone dies and their family will produce a deed showing they own a plot.

That's where Louis Kolssak II comes in. He owns the Kolssak Funeral Home, Wheeling's only funeral home for "longer than people on that village board have been alive," he said.

Before the village took over ownership of the cemetery in 1976 Kolssak helped the two sisters who took care of the cemetery locate graves. He's been involved ever since.

Kolssak hasn't talked to village officials recently about the cemetery but said things working out there just fine.

"I don't know why they want to make a whole new policy when there are only 12 or 20 left," he said. "There are so many other things in the village that should be addressed. But whatever, they're the bosses."

Kolssak said he's buried only one person in the past four years at the cemetery.