Work in peace

It's the season when headstone cutouts and grinning pumpkins grace grocery stores. Images of Carrie's hand, thrust forth from loosened soil, and the hockey-masked Jason, brandishing his chainsaw through rows of ancient tombstones, have flickered repeatedly across TV screens since the beginning of October.

But the commercialized version of cemeteries is unlike the real thing.

"I find that some of the things Hollywood does are a little bit irritating," said Richard Peterson, a UW alumnus and director of four local cemeteries. "There's nothing bad about it, but it perpetuates a myth that is not reality."

Visible from the north campus dorms is Calvary Cemetery, situated on a sloping hill northeast of U. Village. The 40-acre cemetery was blessed by the Catholic Church and formally dedicated in 1889.

Peterson oversees Calvary and three other cemeteries under the Associated Catholic Cemeteries of Seattle.

"Back in the late '70s, if anyone had asked; 'Do you have the intention to work at the cemetery for your career?' I would have said, 'Are you crazy?' But it has just been a real wonderful fit, and I haven't looked back at all," said Peterson.

Responsible for the administrative and financial duties of four cemeteries, Peterson also interacts closely with the staff of each cemetery and ensures that their work-related needs are met.

Peterson first started working for Calvary Cemetery as a seasonal grounds keeper in 1976 during the summer months to help cover his tuition costs at the UW.

"During the summers while I was in college, I had to work some place. Some people were working in fast food -- I started working here at the cemetery," Peterson explained. "At the time, it was just a job. I needed income."

Peterson graduated from the UW with distinction in 1979 in English literature. He then went on to graduate school at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. to pursue an education in ministry.

"I didn't finish the program, because finishing the program meant you were also a priest. At that time, I discerned that wasn't where I was going to go," Peterson said.

After taking time off from graduate school, Peterson found himself working for Calvary yet again.

"When I left school and I was still trying to figure out my direction in life, they happened to have an opening here for a full-time position on the grounds," he said.

Working on the grounds meant that Peterson was responsible for the maintenance of the cemetery lawn, along with general upkeep of the grounds. Before the days of weed whackers and riding lawnmowers, typical duties for a member of the grounds staff included countless hours of mowing and trimming the unruly grass around headstones with shears.

While working full-time as a grounds keeper, Peterson married his wife, also a UW alumnus who majored in history and political science. While his marriage closed off any possibility of becoming a priest, Peterson wanted to remain active in the ministry of his local church --something he was able to accomplish by working at the cemetery.

"A new director of cemeteries came on board in 1985, and given my background in pastoral studies as well as my experience here, he moved me up as manager of Gethsemane Cemetery in Federal Way," Peterson said.

In 1991, after working as the manager for Gethsemane Cemetery for six years, the Arch Bishop of Seattle appointed Peterson as director of cemeteries for the four cemeteries he currently oversees: Calvary Cemetery, Gethsemane Cemetery in Federal Way, Holyrood Cemetery in Shoreline and St. Patrick Cemetery in Kent.

Part of the reason Peterson has continued to work for Calvary is because of a personal fascination with the elaborate history found in cemeteries.

"It's amazing to me that the people who created the things we use today have passed away but are remembered in places like cemeteries," said Peterson. "I think that's a real silent testimony to our history."

Although Calvary is one of the older cemeteries in Seattle, being a Catholic cemetery, it has limited its claim to being the final resting place of the famous and historical. They do not lay claim to such famous Seattle-area graves as Jimi Hendrix or Bruce and Brandon Lee. However, among the eclectic mix of modest and stately grave markers, one can find many UW alumni and professors, soldiers who fought in wars ranging from the Spanish-American War to Vietnam and Edward Nordhoff, the founder of the Bon Marche.

Though, most notably, Clarence S. Edmundson, a well-known athletic coach for the UW for 35 years and namesake for Hec Edmundson Pavilion, was buried at Calvary Aug. 19, 1964 in a lot that overlooks Husky Stadium.

"Kurt Cobain was nearly buried here," added Peterson. "But at the last minute, Courtney Love decided to make other arrangements."

Calvary first agreed to provide a plot for Cobain, as well as reserve adjacent spaces for his family. When Calvary requested that Courtney Love pay an extra $100,000 a year for security to protect the grave from vandalism, she refused to have Cobain buried in the cemetery.

"Occasionally, we have someone coming here asking to see his grave," Peterson said, noting the plot originally intended for Cobain is still available for purchase.

Given its age and location near residential housing and the UW, one would think ghost stories surrounding Calvary Cemetery would be commonplace.

When asked if he had ever heard rumors of ghosts, Peterson said with a serious voice, "I have worked in this cemetery since 1976, in one fashion or another. I have never seen a ghost. Which is another way of saying that a lot of that is Hollywood hype."

More information on Calvary Cemetery is available at the Associated Catholic Cemeteries Archdiocese of Seattle website: http://www.acc-seattle.com/.