251 MAN HAS SPENT DECADES BEAUTIFYING THE LOCAL CEMETERY. HIS FAMILY HOPES HIS SIMPLE BUT CONSTANT COMMITMENT TO HIS COMMUNITY SHOWS THAT WE’RE NEVER TOO YOUNG OR TOO OLD TO GIVE BACK. KETV NEWSWATCH SEVEN’S JOEY SAFCHIK HAS THIS NEW STORY FROM SHELBY COUNTY. IT MAY SEEM LIKE AN ODD PLACE TO CHOOSE TO SPEND ONE’S LATER YEARS IN LIFE. I’LL BE 91 IN ABOUT A MONTH, BUT BILL AARON HOLTZ DEDICATES HIS FREE TIME TO MOWING AND MANICURING THIS CEMETERY. WE WANT IT TO LOOK NICE. I GUESS THAT’S THE REASON WE STARTED TAKING CARE OF IT 30 SOME YEARS AGO. BILL, HIS WIFE LOUISE, AND HIS KIDS PULL WEEDS, CUT GRASS. NOW WE GOT TO FIND THERE WE GO AND RAISE FLAGS TO HONOR FALLEN COUNTRYMEN. IT DOES A LOT OF THINGS WITHOUT GETTING ANY ATTENTION OR GETTING ANY. YOU DON’T REALLY GET A LOT OF THANKS FOR MOWING THE CEMETERY, BUT IT’S MORE THAN FAMILY BUSINESS. IT’S FAMILY HISTORY. OUR PARENTS, GRANDPARENTS, GREAT GRANDPARENTS, FRIENDS, AUNTS, UNCLES ARE BURIED HERE. IT’S JUST MEMORIES. YEAH, IT’S JUST PART OF OUR FAMILY. FAR FROM HAUNTED. THIS GRAVEYARD CELEBRATES THE LIVING. WE’VE ALL BEEN HERE AS KIDS, AND THEN OUR KIDS COME WHILE COMMEMORATING THOSE WHO’VE PASSED WILL VISIT US. STONE OF MAYBE GRANDMA AND GRANDPA. AND THEN STORY START. YEAH. AND YOU SHARE THINGS THAT YOU REMEMBER ABOUT YOUR GRANDMA AND GRANDPA. THEY HOPE HIS SIMPLE GENEROSITY LIFTS OUR SPIRITS. NO MATTER OUR WALK OF LIFE, I THINK A LITTLE CEMETERY OUT IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE IS KIND OF UNIQUE. AND. AND IT’S SURPRISING. A MAN AND HIS MOWER. YEAH. DO YOU THINK HE’S STOPPING ANYTIME SOON? NO, NO, NOT THE LAWN MOWER. CUTTING OUT THIS PATCH OF HEAVEN ON EARTH IN HONOR OF THOSE BEYO
90-year-old man and his mower care for small-town cemetery
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Updated: 8:16 PM EDT May 30, 2023
It may seem like an odd place to choose to spend one's later years in life, but 90-year-old Bill Ahrenholtz dedicates his free time to mowing and manicuring the Union Township Cemetery in Defiance, Iowa, which has a tiny population of 250."We want it to look nice. I guess that's the reason we started taking care of it 30-something years ago," said Ahrenholtz, who, alongside his wife and kids, pulls weeds, cuts grass and raises flags to honor fallen members of the military. "He does a lot of things without getting any attention or getting any — you don't really get a lot of thanks for mowing a cemetery," said Paulette Rasmussen, Bill’s daughter. Maintaining the cemetery is more than family business; it is family history."Our parents, grandparents, great grandparents, friends, aunts, uncles are buried here," said Ahrenholtz. Far from haunted, the graveyard celebrates the living, a destination on Memorial Day, while commemorating those who have passed."We came here as kids, and then our kids come," said Nancy Kloewer, Bill’s daughter. "We'll visit a stone of maybe grandma and grandpa, and then stories start. And you share things that you remember about your grandma and grandpa."The family hopes Bill’s simple generosity lifts all our spirits, no matter our walk of life. A man and his mower, cutting out a little patch of heaven on Earth, in honor of those beyond. "I think a little cemetery out in the middle of nowhere is kind of unique and surprising," said Ahrenholtz.
It may seem like an odd place to choose to spend one's later years in life, but 90-year-old Bill Ahrenholtz dedicates his free time to mowing and manicuring the Union Township Cemetery in Defiance, Iowa, which has a tiny population of 250.
"We want it to look nice. I guess that's the reason we started taking care of it 30-something years ago," said Ahrenholtz, who, alongside his wife and kids, pulls weeds, cuts grass and raises flags to honor fallen members of the military.
"He does a lot of things without getting any attention or getting any — you don't really get a lot of thanks for mowing a cemetery," said Paulette Rasmussen, Bill’s daughter.
Maintaining the cemetery is more than family business; it is family history.
"Our parents, grandparents, great grandparents, friends, aunts, uncles are buried here," said Ahrenholtz.
Far from haunted, the graveyard celebrates the living, a destination on Memorial Day, while commemorating those who have passed.
"We came here as kids, and then our kids come," said Nancy Kloewer, Bill’s daughter. "We'll visit a stone of maybe grandma and grandpa, and then stories start. And you share things that you remember about your grandma and grandpa."
The family hopes Bill’s simple generosity lifts all our spirits, no matter our walk of life. A man and his mower, cutting out a little patch of heaven on Earth, in honor of those beyond.
"I think a little cemetery out in the middle of nowhere is kind of unique and surprising," said Ahrenholtz.
