Wyoming Stories: A Gravedigger From Big Horn Recalls The Switch From Shovels To Backhoes

As a young man, Richard Garber and his brother served as the grave diggers for the cemetery in Big Horn.  They oversaw the interment of their friends and neighbors when graves were dug by hand, up through the advent of the backhoe. Garber and his friend Elaine Henry recall the importance of this cemetery to their families and the community of Bighorn.

Richard grew up on a ranch in Bighorn, Wyoming.  Because of the large amount of land they ranched, his family owned an airplane.  When Garber learned to fly as a teenager, mischief and misadventure ensued.