LITCHFIELD — Donald Vannah crouched on one knee in front of his gravestone and wiped off dirt with the back of his gloved hand. To the right of his flat granite marker, where he’ll eventually be buried, is his wife’s gravestone.
Louise Danforth Vannah, who died in 2005 at age 72, was an avid camper, so her gravestone reads “Happy Camper.” Above the marker is a small, manicured mound with a white cross covered by a lei from a son who recently visited Hawaii and a wooden Tweety Bird lawn ornament, its yellow wings spinning with the wind.
Vannah, 82, didn’t dig his wife’s grave – their three sons wouldn’t let him – but as head groundskeeper and gravedigger, he’s dug hundreds of others over the past 16 years at the Litchfield Plains Cemetery.
“I’ve seen one woman crying her eyes out, hugging the ground, hugging the coffin,” Vannah said. “It’s a hard thing to do, to cut them out. You’ve got to be patient. Patience is a virtue. You don’t die every day.”
Vannah was born in Litchfield a few miles from the cemetery, but he spent most of his life, from age 14 or 15 on, logging in the Allagash. His gravestone proudly declares his former occupation: “Donald Vannah. Allagash Logger.”
After retiring and returning to live in Litchfield full time, Vannah was asked by David Larrabbee, the cemetery sexton, if he wanted to be the groundskeeper and gravedigger. Since then, he’s been caring for the roughly 20 acres at the cemetery and the graves of an estimated 3,500 people.
Vannah works Monday through Friday, and Saturday and Sunday for burials.
Vannah digs the graves with a shovel, his slight frame heaving dirt out of the 8-foot-long, 40-inch-wide and 56-inch-deep holes.
George Rogers, president of the association that owns the cemetery, said most cemeteries use backhoes to dig graves, but the sandy ground at Litchfield Plains Cemetery allows for use of a manual gravedigger. The association can’t afford the needed equipment or to hire a contractor for every burial, Rogers said.
“I wouldn’t be at all surprised that when Donald goes, it will be almost impossible to find anyone willing to dig a hole all by hand. That’s the problem,” Rogers said.
Vannah said it takes him four to five hours to dig a grave, and after the coffin is lowered, he has to fill it back in.
The most unusual burial ceremonies are those of motorcycle club members, Vannah said. He said he’s seen members urinate on the gravesites, pour beer over them and even shoot at the ground with a pistol.
“It’s weird,” Vannah said. “Everybody’s different, the way they do things.”
When asked what he thinks of the different burial customs or burying his relatives or mowing around his own and his wife’s gravestones, his response is the same: “It don’t bother me.”
Litchfield Plains Cemetery, like cemeteries all over the country, has seen revenue decline because of the increase in cremations and decrease in traditional burials, said Rogers, the association president. The cemetery relies on revenue from burials to cover the care of a growing number of gravesites.
“It’s tough times for cemeteries, because you have perpetual care,” Rogers said. “Someone paid 50 cents in 1860, and you’re taking care of it forever. It’s a hard time for cemeteries everywhere.”
The national rate of cremations, which cost less than traditional burials, has increased dramatically since 1960, when it was around 3.5 percent, according to the National Funeral Directors Association. This year, the association predicts, the number of cremations will surpass the number of burials nationally. By 2030, the cremation rate is expected to be around 70 percent.
In Maine, the cremation rate already is expected to surpass 70 percent this year. By 2030, the cremation rate in Maine will be more than 84 percent, the funeral directors association predicts.
Vannah said he hopes to dig graves in his hometown for another decade. So far this year, he’s dug six graves, but he said he never knows how many he’ll end up digging each year.
“They can die anytime,” he said.
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