The Idalou Cemetery, established in 1921, celebrated its 95th year this year.
Idalou resident Charles Drake, president of the cemetery board, said in 2002 he was the one responsible for putting together the research to get the cemetery recognized as a historical marker.
He said in 1921 Idalou was populated enough to have a need for a cemetery within the town.
“Doc Turner had an infant son pass away and so his uncle Bill Turner, JW Bill Turner donated the first two acres of land out there for a cemetery,” Drake said.
The infant, named Weldon, was the first person to be buried in the cemetery and it grew from there.
“In 1928 the cemetery purchased two more acres from uncle Bill Turner for the sum of one dollar. It says so I guess. That’s a dollar for two acres,” Drake said.
Drake and his wife Mae Dell have been Idalou residents for nearly 70 years.
He got involved with the cemetery in 1995.
“It’s a community cemetery. It doesn’t belong to the city or the county,” Drake said.
That means the cemetery exists from the sale of the lots, donations and memorials.
Drake said through the years a lot of traditional family plots were purchased.
“We have people brought back here,” Drake said. “They bring the bodies back from all over the United States, their family is buried here and they want to buried with their family.”
Drake said it represents what Idalou is all about.
