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For decades, members of the Springdale Volunteer Fire Department have placed flags on the graves of fallen firefighters for Memorial Day. In recent years, they noticed something.
“There were a couple that didn’t have grave markers,” said Zachary Wilhelm, fire company chaplain. “We noticed that for a couple of years. We didn’t think it was right that they didn’t have anything else to know they were there.”
To fix that slight, a ceremony was held Wednesday night to honor three firefighters who served Springdale in the early 1900s.
Headstones now mark the graves of Samuel Tuxford, Carl Murdock and Karl Althauser.
Tuxford and Murdock are buried in Springdale Cemetery; Althauser is buried in Greenwood Cemetery in Lower Burrell.
A modified funeral was held, Wilhelm said, which included Scripture readings, prayers and a history of the firefighters’ service.
Of the three, the fire department was able to find the most information about Althauser. Wilhelm said they were able to find him because his wife died five years before him, and he was buried next to her.
Althauser was a fire chief for Springdale during the 1930s. He served from 1925-1959.
Most of the records found for Tuxford were from the fire department, Wilhelm said. they were unable to find his date of birth. Tuxford was a charter member of the department, having joined it in 1908, and he remained a member until his death in 1935.
“That leads me to believe that in that era, he would be an immigrant who came over here, and he did not have a birth certificate coming to the U.S.,” Wilhelm said.
The only information they could find about Murdock is that he was born in 1913 and joined the fire department in 1935. He died a year later at 23.
The Springdale Cemetery Association expressed its gratitude on Facebook to the fire department for its efforts in recognizing the two firefighters in their cemetery.
“The Springdale Cemetery Association appreciates the effort of the Springdale VFD to recognize the unmarked graves of two members who died almost 90 years ago. The placing of the stones is an act of kindness and respect that is recognized by our entire community,” the post said.
The three firefighters were the only ones the fire department identified without markers. If more are found, Wilhelm said, they will be addressed.
“We plan to keep the legacy of these men alive and remember what they did,” he said. “As far as in the future, we plan to continue along with honoring and remembering our past firemen.”
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