» Dominic Dzurka nick king | photographer | michigan

Dominic Dzurka

Don Dzurka has dug at last count 1,300 graves by hand with only a shovel for the past 56 years. Tall, tan (even in the wintertime), muscular and handsome, one would never guess his age within two decades. For years, Don has opened and closed graves, along with farming and working at The Dow Chemical Co.

Now retired from Dow, life has changed somewhat for Don and Virginia, his wife of 55 years. He no longer has to factor an eight hour workday at Dow into his life. The size of the garden that he Virginia put in each spring isn’t as large as it once was when their three children were at home He continues the opening and closing of grave sites for four cemeteries in his immediate area: St. Matthew’s (a Lutheran cemetery) in Freeland, St. Valentine’s (a Catholic cemetery) in Beaver, the Pine Grove William’s Township Cemetery in Fisherville and St. Anthony’s (a Catholic cemetery).

Dominic Dzurka get out of his truck, which has a crucifix on the dashboard, as he gets ready to finish digging a grave at the Saint Valentine Catholic Church cemetery in Beaver Township.

Dominic Dzurka digs a grave by hand at the Saint Valentine Catholic Church cemetery in Beaver Township.

Dominic Dzurka loads wheel barrows of dirt away from the site of a grave he is digging at the Saint Valentine Catholic Church cemetery. Dzurka moves the dirt to an area that can’t be seen during the funeral.

The vault is lowered in to a grave that Dominic Dzurka dug at the Saint Valentine Catholic Church cemetery.

Dominic Dzurka waits alone for the funeral mass to end near a grave he prepared at the Saint Valentine Catholic Church cemetery in Beaver Township.

Dominic Dzurka, left, talks with a member of the funeral home during the ceremony at a grave site Dominic dug at the Saint Valentine Catholic Church cemetery.