Christian County, Missouri

A memorial to family's love
Springfield News-Leader 5/24/1998
Steve Koehler

The children of Sam and Alta Chaves had always wanted a family cemetery.
But they never realized how quickly they would need one--and how quickly they could establish one
The Chaveses' eight children had decided last fall that a one-acre plot of land on the family's 280-acre farm in southern Christian county would be set aside for the cemetery.
They had gotten approval from the state and county and planned to begin work on the cemetery this spring.
Little did they realize the cemetery would be ready for dedication by Memorial Day as a place for family members to remember their dead.
One of the eight siblings, Frank Chaves, died Oct. 2, shortly after approval was received, and family and friends quickly went to work
Within 36 hours, the cemetery--complete with gravel path, fencing, trees and flowers--was ready to receive Frank.
"They created a miracle here.  Frank would be so proud of them.  I know I am," said Janice Chaves, Frank's wife.  They were 25 days short of being married 39 years when Frank died at age 59.
Friends and family members pitched in and battled their grief to work on the cemetery.
Some donated gravel for the pathways.  Others brought rose bushes from their own gardens to plant at the cemetery.
Still others operated heavy equipment to clear the brush and other plants from the field that once held rows of corn and abuts Busiek State Forest on two sides.
Wayne Chaves, the youngest brother, cleared most of the land for the cemetery just hours after his brother died.
"I got through it all pretty good by doing that," he said.
A 13-year-old grandson of Frank's, Rod Hedgpeth, made a wooden headstone for his grandfather until a stone marker arrived.
It remained at the grave even when the new marker was put in place.
There's also a primitive wood bench that Frank made from a tree that sits next to his grave.
The bench used to sit in Janice's flower garden.
Now she goes to it often to visit her husband's grave.
"I can sit and talk to him or cry without looking like a nut," she said, wearing an "I (heart) Frank" pin on her blouse.
Frank is not the only Chaves family member buried in the new cemetery.
Gene Chaves, 63, who died Nov. 10 of a lung disease, is buried there.  Several small U.S. flags decorate the former Army soldier's grave.
There is one more grave, that of Michael Wayne Chaves, who died in 1969.
He was the 4-day-old son of Wayne and Jacquie Chaves and was moved from another cemetery when the family's was completed.
The baby's grave is decorated with toys and stuffed animals.
The rest of the cemetery is empty except for some landscaping of flowers, rose bushes and trees planted to honor family members.
The cemetery has been divided into eight sections for each of the brothers and sisters.
The sections run counterclockwise from the entrance.  Elnore Craig, the oldest sister, has the first section to the entrance on one side of the path.  Wayne, the youngest brother, has the last section, also next to the entrance on the opposite side of the path.
There is an eight-foot stone monument in the center of the cemetery surrounded by a gravel path, flowers and a wreath.
The monument honors Sam and Alta Chaves, who, ironically, are not buried in the cemetery.  They remain in a Highlandville cemetery with their parents.
Sam Chaves died in 1983, Alta in 1990.  He purchased the farm in 1938 and was a dairy farmer.  During the summers, he would work in Alaska as a carpenter.
"Sam wasn't interested in establishing a family cemetery," said Jacquie Chaves.
The family farm, where all of the children grew up, is just down the road from the cemetery, which was to be dedicated today with a service and picnic.
Everyone was looking forward to returning to the cemetery again.  There are 115 descendants of Sam and Alta Chaves.
For Janice Chaves, it's still tough to come to the cemetery, even for Memorial Day.
"I dread it some ways, and I look forward to it in other ways," she said.  " I love Frank a bunch, and I still do."
But for Wayne and Jacquie Chaves, who purchased the family farm in 1992, they gain a sense of peace from the cemetery.
"It's comfortable and peaceful to come here.  It's more than just a cemetery.  It's a memorial to the family," Jacquie Chaves said.
Added Wayne Chaves:  "We know exactly where we're going to end up.  It's comforting to know.  This is home."