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St. John the Baptist Catholic Cemetery of Conde The Conde Catholic Cemetery came into existence in 1906 upon the death and burial of John Hynes. John Hynes was an immigrant from Ireland. He homesteaded land near Conde in the late eighteen-eighties. He donated three acres of this land located on the southeast edge of Conde to be used as a cemetery for the new Catholic Church of Conde. In the beginning, a small fee was charged for burial lots. The care and upkeep fell to members of the parish. Members donated their time and labor to do the work that needed to be done. This practice continued for many years. In the late 1980’s the parish council decided something else needed to be done. Years of ever-dwindling farm population and the decline of small towns had taken its toll. The parish membership was much smaller than it used to be. Not only that, due to the migration of our young people to other places to find employment, our membership was growing old. It was apparent that the task of caring for the cemetery would soon become difficult, if not, impossible. The board decided to form a Cemetery Association. The sole purpose f this organization was the care and upkeep of the cemetery. It was decided to institute a fund to be used for this intent. Letters were sent to all parish members, as well as former parish members who had moved away, asking them to donate to this fund. It was decided that the principal would (only) be used to draw interest. The interest would be used as the board saw fit to maintain and enhance the cemetery. In an effort to increase this fund, we are still using donated labor to maintain the cemetery. In February of 1990, Articles of Incorporation were filed with the state of South Dakota. The St. John the Baptist Cemetery of Conde Inc. Association was formed. The first members of this board were Loren Lenz, Mark VanHatten, Janice Taylor (Sec.), Gerald Snyder (V. Pres.), and Earl Grandpre (Pres.). Over the years several improvements have been made in the cemetery. In the summer of 1977, the American Legion Post 148 of Conde constructed a stone and marble plaque to honor the many veterans buried there. In 1992 Loren Lenz donated a Country Estate white fence across the front of the cemetery. In 1993 the Peoples Bank joined with the Conde American Legion in raising eight large steel flag poles. In 1994 many of the old trees that were in the cemetery were removed. Fifty new trees were planted in their place. The labor and expense of this project was donated by the many friends of the Conde Catholic Church. In the spring of 1996 a landscaping project was donated to the cemetery by the family and friends of Daniel Remily. It is a rock covered; kidney shaped outline containing many evergreen plants and shrubs. This Memorial surrounds the veteran’s memorial and was donated in Danny’s memory. The data presented in this document was compiled by Earl A. Grandpre, the grandson-in-law of the above mentioned John Hynes. It is the result of the study of church records that are contained on the head stones of the cemetery. I have also asked all those that I could reach with my annual letter to advise me of any missing information. I feel that these records are about as complete as it is possible to do at this time. If anyone that reads this document knows of any mistakes or missing names please advise me as I will be very happy to correct it. These records are current as of April 20, 1998 Earl A. Grandpre |
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