Nancy Hindman asked her longtime friend, JoAnn Bell, if she wanted to visit “her part of town” Tuesday morning.
Hindman gestured to a corner of the 1.74-acre Niwot Cemetery, exemplifying the personal connection and sense of duty that have driven the two to guard over the cemetery.
Hindman and Bell, both 84 (they attended school together at the now-demolished Niwot Elementary), joined the Niwot Cemetery Association in the late 1990s. Then, there were about 15 other members.
Now, Hindman and Bell are the only ones left to watch over the cemetery, where the first grave dates back to 1874.
The cemetery has always almost been a family affair. The way Hindman heard the story, her great-grandfather, Jerome Gould, donated the land after his son, Ernest Gould, died at 13 years old in 1881.
Ernest’s mother, Amy Gould, was overcome with grief and disturbed that her son was buried so far away in the Burlington cemetery (a town abutting Longmont back then), so Jerome went and retrieved the boy’s body and buried him alongside the only other existing grave on a grassy knoll outside of the town of Niwot. Jerome Gould then dedicated the land for other Niwot residents.
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