Indiana Man Retires As Town Grave Digger After More Than 75 YEARS
An Indiana man who digs graves is officially retiring after a record-breaking 73 years and 75 days on the job as a gravedigger. 92-year-old Allen McCloskey shared stories about the people he’s buried in town with CBS Evening News, but the hardest one was his wife’s. He said “I figured she’d want me to do it.”
He got his start as a grave digger at Galveston Cemetery in Galveston, Ind., when he was asked to cover the previous grave digger’s shifts for a week in 1952. And he started by hand….shovel in hand and just never left! Now he’s got machinery to make it easier, but still gets down in there and squares the corners with his spade and gets the measurements just right.
In 2021 he earned the Guinness World Record for the longest career as a grave digger, with 68 years and 191 days on the job. He finally retired last November after 73 years, 75 days on the job and the town honored him with a big celebration he thought was someone else’s birthday party! He is also known for doing odd jobs for people all around town, tells them he’ll send a bill…but never does. He just loves to help!