Profile: Sam Reed, Cemetery Caretaker

For the last 10 years, Reed has overseen historic Oakland Cemetery’s operations, including the digging of graves for funeral services. The West Virginia native can usually be found talking with visitors and giving tours.

How did you get started working in Oakland Cemetery?

I was working as a funeral director at a local funeral home at Murray Brothers and this job came open. Someone called me and said they had a job open at Oakland Cemetery as the Sexton and said, would you be interested? And I said yeah, because I need some benefits. At these private funeral homes you don’t have benefits.

How did you get started working in a funeral home?

I knew in the first grade I was going to be a mortician. I remember my first grade teacher asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up and at that time I we called them “undertakers.” So I said “I’m gonna be an undertaker,” and everybody laughed. But I knew that was my special calling.

Why is that?

I was always fascinated with how people look when they lay them out in a casket at a funeral home, especially when you hear that they were hit by a car or hit by a train. Then, when you get there, you see this beautiful person laying there, just looking at peace. And I wanted to understand that. I wanted to understand how they do that.