A lifetime of service
May 20—Roughly sixty-five years ago, Forrest Kreisher joined the Elk River Cemetery District board to finish the term of Carl Jockhock.
Kreisher could not have known it at the time, but the Elk River native would remain on the board until just last month, when he would retire from his post at the age of 91.
Kreisher was honored recently for his service to the board and the community, his photo appearing on the facebook Page of the Elk River Cemetery District — Three Pines Cemetery with the district's current board members, Marsha Martin, DeEtta Mitchell and Tim Brinkley.
"The Elk River Cemetery District Board would like to thank Forrest 'Babe' Kreisher for serving as the Board Chairman for the past 69 years," reads the Facebook post.
"Mr. Kreisher has volunteered most of his life keeping the Three Pines Cemetery in Elk River, Idaho beautiful for the community."
The board is in charge of maintaining the grounds in and around the Three Pines Cemetery in Elk River through hiring maintenance employees, finding funding for improvement projects and managing plot fees and policies regarding burials. Board member elections happen every two to four years.
A little history
The first cemetery in Elk River was called Ridgewood and was founded 1912. The land was separated into different areas for religious denominations and fraternal orders present in town. In 1921, the residents of Elk River became concerned about the state of the cemetery and a group of men went to work cleaning up the brush, trees and stumps. They would also build a fence and form a cemetery association.
The Catholic cemetery created in 1912 would be abandoned after 1921 and all deaths would be buried in the Three Pines Cemetery or the Oddfellows Lodge area. Kreisher said it would be after 1955 when the Catholic cemetery would be cleaned up again but no new burials happen in those plots.
The cemetery became a taxing district in May 1958 by a vote from the Clearwater County Commissioners. A taxing district, Elk River District Clerk Shelley McLam said, made it possible for an elected board to have access to property taxes and it required them to follow state law. The first board consisted of Jockheck, Eugene Friend, Frank Currier and Tom Lower as the hired maintenance man.
Kreisher comes aboard
Kreisher met his wife in 1955 during his service in the U.S. Army and they would marry in February before moving to Elk River. He would be formally appointed to the board in 1960 according to the old minutes, McLam said, but it was possible he had been involved for a few years before that with the maintenance. In 1968, Kreisher was named the chairman of the board and would continue the work on the cemetery.
"I'm not bragging about myself," Kreisher said. "I wanted it as nice as possible for people buried there."
Della Kreisher, Forrest's wife, served as the board's secretary for roughly 55-60 years, retiring in 2020.
Throughout this time, the Kreishers and the other board members and volunteers worked to improve the cemetery by removing brush, building an office and water pump house, installing flower hangers and a new gate. The gate, Kreisher said, was made by a man in Texas and painted by Deary Auto with car paint to preserve it.
In addition to upkeep of signage and fencing around different sections of the cemetery, volunteers have also added a section for pets.
"I look at it and admire all the work we put into it," Kreisher said.
The yodeler of Elk River
Forrest Kreisher said he is a lifelong resident of Elk River and graduated from the Elk River Public School, which was closed in the 1990s. As a child, Kreisher said he taught himself to yodel and remembered how people would know he was on his way to school from his yodeling.
In his childhood his siblings, mother and him would pick huckleberries in the mountains around Elk River to fill a washbucket or two and then drive around the area to sell them — for a quarter a gallon.
"I had a good life. We made our own fun," Kreisher said.
He had been a log scaler for the Potlatch Logging Company before his military service and returned to the job when he moved back in 1955. He worked in logging for more than 30 years — in various roles with a few different companies that would come into town.
Kreisher retired from logging in 1992 when the Potlatch Logging Company left Elk River for the last time. Now, he spends his time with his wife at their Elk River home and occasionally practices his yodeling.
Nelson can be reached at knelson@dnews.com.
