Chicago's Cemetery Lady, Helen Sclair

And, out last stop on this tour of the Bohemian National Cemetery is the final resting place of Helen Sclair, whose efforts in the field of local cemetery-study are tremendous. That's right.  She is now dead and has joined those whose memory she devoted much of her life to saving.  Every tombstone has a story and it was her desire to find out as many as possible.

We need more people like her.  She died in 2009.

Her last address is the same where she is now.  While she was still alive, she lived her last eight years in a house on the cemetery grounds.

She is credited with uncovering a treasure trove of historic documents in the state archives at Northeastern Illinois University about Chicago's first cemetery, which was on the site that today is Lincoln Park.  Mrs. Sclair was of the opinion that not every body was dug up when the cemetery became a park.

So, the next time you're at the zoo or enjoying Lincoln Park, just think....

Chicago's Bohemian National Cemetery-- Part 1: Meet the 'Cemetery Lady'

 From the October 11, 2020, Chicago Tribune "Inside Bohemian National Cemetery with 'Cemetery Lady' Helen Sclair" by Kori Rumore.

Bohemian National Cemetery, at Pulaski Road and Foster Avenue on the Northwest Side, is a burial ground that welcomes all on its 124-acre site with beautiful scenery and memorials to people and events important in Chicago history.

Helen Sclair knows a whole lot about this cemetery as well as the more than 700 burial sites in the Chicagoland area.  She is a tour guide to these cemeteries and says she never "seen a cemetery she didn't like."

The Bohemian National Cemetery, where more than 120,000 people are buried, is the result of tensions between the Roman Catholic Church and local immigrants who came to Chicago from Bohemia and Moravia, now known as the Czech Republic.  These immigrants, called Bohemians, were expected by the Catholic Church to make confession before death.  If not, they were banned from burial within Chicago's Catholic cemeteries.

--Cooter