FLORENCE, Colo.—Whenever somebody mentions the Union Highland Cemetery, the same sentence is normally heard.
“The cemetery has never looked so good since Angie (Nichols) was hired to do the job,” say numerous people in the community and on the Florence City Council.
But more importantly, the cemetery sexton said she likes working outside, and on her own.
“When I first moved out here, I didn’t know exactly what to expect,” Nichols said. “It’s nice and peaceful out here. I don’t believe in all that hocus pocus or whatever you want to call it.”
Her favorite thing is being outside and seeing progress at the end of the day.
“I like a job where you can look back and see that you’ve done something,” she said.
She also enjoys talking to the residents and out-of-towners, who are looking for a loved one’s grave or interested in buying a plot.
“It’s interesting to hear the stories people tell you when they’re looking for their loved ones,” said Nichols, who started working at the cemetery in 2003.
The most difficult aspect of her job is burying friends and loved ones.
“I always try to think of how I would want it if it was somebody in my family,” Nichols said. “I want to make it as nice as you can.”
Her duties include repairing the sprinkler system, taking care of the water lines, digging the graves, setting up for funerals and painting the trash cans. She also placed signs on all the blocks to make it easier to find the graves.
Along with the job comes a house at the cemetery, where she lives year round.
“Even on weekends, if somebody comes out, I help them,” Nichols said. “I don’t have to stay here because I have my own life. There are not a lot of funerals on the weekends.”
The big thrust for her is through Memorial Day.
“That is when I get my report card,” Nichols said.
As soon as the weather begins to warm up, she works tirelessly to make the cemetery look good for the big day, by seeding graves dug during the winter months or placing sod if the family prefers that.
“They want the graves to look nice for Memorial Day,” Nichols said. “They put the flags out. It’s actually a really pretty place at that time.”
A normal summer day begins with a morning drive through to ensure everything is in its place. Nichols then mows the grass and trims around the stones in both the new and old sections of the cemetery.
“That was a big thing for a lot of people” who complained about it, Nichols said. “I keep the old part mowed. I get the prisoners at least once a year because it’s a big job” to keep it up. “I also seed the low spots in the cemetery because it’s tearing stuff up when you have a burial.”
As part of her job, she reads the water meters once a month, stripes the lines on the main streets in Florence, and helps with water leaks and snow removal.
Born July 7, 1958, Nichols was raised in Williamsburg, Ky., then moved to Anchorage, Alaska, with her grandparents, who raised her. She attended several years of high school but quit before she graduated. She later earned a GED in 1984 in Pueblo.
After she quit school, Nichols took care of her grandmother, who moved back to Kentucky. When her grandmother died, Nichols’ dad was stationed at Fort Carson, so she moved to Colorado Springs, where she owned and operated an asphalt striping business for 23 years.
Later, she moved to Florence while working in Pueblo for five years.
However, she was not content to work inside.
“I kept bugging Martin (Duran), public works director, and they finally had an opening so I applied for it,” Nichols said.
Originally the cemetery was established by the Tanner family, who later turned it over to a fraternal lodge in Coal Creek or Williamsburg.
“That is where it got Highland added to the name because it was a Scottish fraternity,” Nichols said.
Then when the fraternity turned the cemetery over to the City of Florence, administrators added Union to the name.
“I like my job,” Nichols said. “The city has been good to me.”
