HOLY SEPULCHRE CEMETERY

Holy Sepulchre Cemetery was the first official Catholic Cemetery in Sarpy County. The Thomas Calvary Cemetery was a family cemetery. The growing number of Irish and German Catholics in the western part of Sarpy County necessitated a Catholic cemetery. Land was available just to the south of the old Forest City Cemetery.

The deed for the first land for the cemetery transferred title from Wesley and Elizabeth Knight to the Right Rev. James O. Gorman, Prelate and Bishop of Nebraska for the consideration of $1.00. The deed was signed on 20 Apr 1863 and recorded on 8 May 1863 in Book "E", Page 479. Other parcels of land were added to the cemetery in later years.

Although the cemetery technically belongs to the Archdiocese of Omaha, it is operated and maintained by a cemtery board composed of members of St. Patrick's Church in Gretna. The cemetery was established when the church was still located in nearby Forest City. When the railroad bypassed Forest City in the mid 1880's, the new town of Gretna, and a new parsonage and later a new church were built in town. 1995 marked the centennial of the building of the new St. Patrick's Church in Gretna.

Among those buried in the cemetery, besides members of the pioneer families of the western part of Sarpy County, is Father Wallace, a priest who served the parishioners of St. Patrick's Church for nearly 40 years.

The cemetery is still in use and is well maintained. The adjoining Forest City Cemetery is also cared for by Holy Sepulchre Cemetery. It is located two miles west of Gretna on Schram Rd. at about 231st St.

Gary Iske, Sarpy County Genealogical Society, 1995.

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