To the editor:

Memorial Day is a time to remember and reflect. The founders and organizers of New Ulm’s three cemeteries: New Ulm City Cemetery, New Ulm Catholic Cemetery, and St. Paul’s Lutheran Cemetery, had the foresight and wisdom to place them together so they abut each other, a convenient arrangement dating back to the 1860’s. The 2010 U.S. Census put New Ulm’s population at 13,522. The forthcoming 2020 census will update that total, but it will probably change only modestly.

Now think of all those who have gone on before us. The population of our three cemeteries, including all forms of burial, is: City Cemetery 7,648, Catholic Cemetery 7,026, Lutheran Cemetery 3,496; Total 18,170. The respective percentages are City 42%, Catholic 39%, and Lutheran 19%.

All this with the understanding that there is some mix of beliefs among all three cemeteries. And with the understanding that numerous persons born here have been buried elsewhere, and many born elsewhere have been buried here.

Those who have gone on before us have paved the way. Now we, the living, must pave the way for those who are to follow.

George L. Glotzbach

New Ulm