SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — There are hundreds of unmarked graves all over South Dakota. In Minnehaha County, members of a fraternal organization known as the Odd Fellows have made it their mission to honor the dead.

They believe everyone deserves the dignity of a marked grave. This group of volunteers is working hard, digging and placing markers over the final resting place of dozens of people here at the Minnehaha County Cemetery.

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“They bury the poor and the indigent, there is also people buried here from the penitentiary who died there. And so this is the people buried by county expense, and it’s all maintained by the county,” said Odd Fellow Grand Warden Paul Schaefer.

Schaefer and other members of the Odd Fellows started this project 5 years ago. There were 200 unmarked graves; they’ve placed markers on over half of those, with plans to do the rest.Tana Clark and other Odd Fellows members are placing ten headstones on this day.

“We are here marking graves, some of them who have been deceased for a very long time, so I’m glad that we are able to bring them that respect and honor, said Clark.

Odd Fellows Members say the group is also helping out at Mount Pleasant Cemetery, which has been around since Sioux Falls became a city in the 1870’s. Schaefer says there are 800 to 1,000 unmarked graves.

One of them was a baby, now reunited with her parents.

“There was a set of parents there and we put the baby’s stone in between them,” said Schaefer. “And it’s been almost 50 years since that baby was not honored between them. And that just means a lot to me, that’s all. And that’s why we do it, it’s worth it.

The Independent Order of Odd Fellows is a non-political, international fraternal organization.It focuses on social welfare, fellowship, and charitable work. Here is a link to the South Dakota Grand Lodge.

https://southdakotaoddfellows.org