Calvary Cemetery
Ponca
Calvary Cemetery
Calvary Cemetery, aka South Creek Cemetery, is located 4.5 miles southwest of Ponca, NE on Highway 9, about halfway between Ponca and Martinsburg.
Learn more about how to search for burials using the Billiongraves website or download the app.
There you can see images of the gravestones. The Billiongraves records are GPS tagged so you can see where burials are in a cemetery using the app.
Purchasing Burial Plots
Contact Nick and Patty Sullivan at .
Parishioners may purchase space for burials for themselves and for family members. Those who purchase space for burial are purchasing the right to interment in a specific plot. The physical land does not become the property of the purchaser; rather, it remains the property of the parish.
| Costs | Single Plot | Interment Fee |
|---|---|---|
| Parishoners | ||
| Non-Parishoners with Family Connection in Cemetery | ||
| Non-Parishoners without Family Connection in Cemetery |
Calvary Cemetery Guidelines
- Guidelines
Cemetery Board
- Members
Cemetery History
The parish cemetery is located in the area where
St. Paul's Church once stood. Land was obtained in the 1890's from John Scollard, Sr., for its construction. Additional land was received on the east from the Matt Engel family and on the west from John and James Scollard to make up the present boundaries of the cemetery. During the tenure of Father Moore, and after the tragic death of Bonnie Beth Knerl in 1926, Florence Davey and Maggie Doyle approached Father Moore for permission to take up a collection to clean off all the graves in the cemetery. Up until that time, each family attempted to take care of their own lots and it was never completely cleaned off at the same time. Permission was given and the people responded so Florence and Maggie hired Dan Donlen to work with them to cut down all the weeds in the cemetery and then to work with them and other volunteers to keep the cemetery mowed and weeded and it has never been allowed to deteriorate to its former state since that time. During the tenure of Father Schwaab, a cement drive was built making all the graves more accessible. Frank Wellenstein handled the mowing and digging of graves for many years and his wife, Louise, handled the book work and selling of grave sites.
At the present writing LuVern Mabeus and Jerry Knerl take care of those functions. After the last St. Paul's Church was destroyed by fire, the parishioners joined with St. Joseph's to form one parish. A memorial was erected on the site of the old church consisting of a marble altar on a concrete slab surrounded on three sides by a retaining wall. Two bronze plaques are imbedded in the wall with a crucifix in the center which was donated by John Scollard.
Listen to the history of St. Paul, South Creek, as part of Fr. Vogel's Faith on the Frontier series.