In Pueblo, history comes alive in death.
The 61,000 headstones at Roselawn Cemetery tell the story of the city’s history and of its exceptional characters.
Many are described in a new book, “The Hearts & Souls of Roselawn” produced by the cemetery's foundation. Foundation President Lucille Corsentino talked to Colorado Matters about the history that's buried in the cemetery.
At Roselawn you can find Gen. George Patton's chaplain and the freed slave of Daniel Boone's grandson. One woman, Mary Babnik Brown, donated her long blonde hair to the government. Strands of her locks were used in the bombsights of bomber planes during World War II, including on the Enola Gay, which dropped the first atomic bomb on Japan.
Besides individual stories, the cemetery reflects the diversity of Pueblo's immigrant population and the impact of disasters ranging from the 1918 influenza epidemic to a 1921 flood.
