Catholic Voices

Kelly Grimaldi, 57, is the historian for Albany Dio­cesan Cemeteries, which cover 18 cemeteries in upstate New York. Her position as historian encompasses research, grant writing, planning and executing educational programs and major event planning for fundraising. Grimaldi, who has a Master of Arts in History from University at Albany, has also written and produced a film called “Graveside Chats” found on YouTube and written a full-color, hardcover book for the 150th anniversary of Historic St. Agnes Cemetery, called “These Sacred Grounds.” The Evangelist talked with her about a wide range of topics for its Catholic Voices interview series.

TE: Tell us about your upbringing? Are you from the area?

KG: My whole entire family landed here right off the boat from the potato famine actually and settled in the Watervliet-Troy area. I was born in Troy, but my father was in the military and we moved up and down the East Coast when I was really young and we ended up in Maine, where he taught survival school and that’s where I lived until I was about 29. My kids (Kendra and Karli) were born there and I moved back here to be closer to my family. 

TE: What was your first religious memory?

KG: My mother is a devout Catho­lic and when we were little she took my brother and I to Mass every Sunday. The memory that sticks out most is when my class made their first Communion, I had the measles. So I am this tiny, little girl all by myself in this enormous church making my First Communion by myself and I am painfully shy and the church is packed and the priest calls me up and announces I am making my first Communion. I could have died, walking up there. Little girl, white dress, all eyes on me. I will never forget that. 

TE: What’s your education background and how did you end up at St. Agnes?

KG: My claim to fame is that I went to the same high school (Lisbon High, north of Portland, Maine) as the author Stephen King. It was a really interesting area to grow up in and when I moved back here I went to work for the state and had two little girls. I didn’t go back to school until I was in my 40s, took a class here and there and then I decided when I was in the health care business for about 12 years (Grimaldi was a credentialing manager at Samaritan Hospital in Troy from 1995-2006), this is not fun, I am not having fun and to go to work every day and not enjoy it, it’s a burden. It really lays on you. So I went back to school to follow my passion which is history and, of course, my family laughed, what are you going to do with a history degree, especially at your age? I was working at Catholic Charities when I saw a volunteer project here: the Civil War Restoration project, and I met with Rick Touchette, who is our executive director and just talked with him about it and I volunteered on that project. Ended up taking the lead, worked on it for about three years. He knew I was going to school, finishing my masters in history and he asked me one day if I wanted to work here, and I thought ‘Absolutely!” This is exactly what I wanted to do, so he hired me in 2010 and two years later I did finish my masters. … I was 50 years old when I got it. I was the oldest kid in my class.

TE: Tell us about your love of cemeteries and how that caused you to change careers? 

KG: I remember being a little girl and I was the weird kid because I loved cemeteries. I loved them, old cemeteries in particular. I’d always be hanging out and checking them out, so I think it was just something that I was born with. And my grandparents used to take me here to the cemetery because all of our people are buried here. And I thought it was a beautiful place. … I loved looking at the statuary, I loved looking at the art. Thinking about people from the past. What were their lives like when they were here and their place in history? It all kind of ties into my interest in history, too, because you can’t think about history without thinking about the people who made it. Cemeteries are just loaded with stories and when you start digging, so to speak, you really find some interesting things about the past and your community and life. … So coming to work here is far from being a chore. I love it. I work just about every day and I get to do exactly what I love doing, which is a gift.

TE: Describe your work day?

KG: When I was hired, my title was historian and there had never been a historian for Albany Diocesan Cemeteries in the past so I was No. 1. We didn’t really have a clear job description for me, because what does a historian do? What I ended up doing is building up this cemetery, in particular through the arts and the humanities. My goal was to make cemeteries, and St. Agnes in particular, a destination for tourism and for people to learn. So really expanding those programs in the arts and the humanities has brought a lot of people in here that wouldn’t normally come to a cemetery, We have painting classes, we do lectures, I do lectures personally, I hire other people to speak. It’s just expanding in the community, making people aware that we are a significant place in the community outside our normal realm of business, which is managing the dead.

TE: What do you like best about the job?

KG: I have always had a passion for restoration work and the preservation of history, in particular gravestones, which are vulnerable to the elements. So with the team of volunteers we are out there scrubbing gravestones, we are fixing them, we are out there making minor repairs. I can’t do any major repairs … but we get a lot done and just being out on the grounds, on a beautiful day, that’s my favorite. … People ask me if I see anything weird out there on the grounds all the time and no, if I feel anything, it’s a sense of peace and I will even be outside at dusk, I walk after work … here’s no negative energy. It’s just peace. 

TE: Can you talk about some of the unique aspects of St. Agnes and the people buried there?

KG: There are a lot of captains of industry and people who really paved the way. They were innovators. For example, Anthony Nicholas Brady, who founded the Brady Maternity Hospital (the current location of The Pastoral Center and The Evangelist), was the first to change gas lights to electric and he made a fortune, millions of dollars. We have an actress here, Mary Nash, who was in “The Philadelphia Story” and “Heidi.” Mostly I am interested in the people who didn’t make a splash. We have orphans; we have three young woman, who were orphans most of the lives, and they drowned right here on the grounds in a pond. The Little Drummer Boy, 12 years old, served the whole Civil War. People who made a splash in history and people who were completely overlooked. For example, the enslaved people that we buried several years ago on Founders Hill. People visit their grave to this day because they are unique. They were enslaved in life and here they are on this gorgeous spot of land. They would have never even imagined to be treated like that with reverence and respect.

TE: Tell us about your book “These Sacred Grounds.”

KG: The book project was in anticipation of St. Agnes Cemetery’s 150th anniversary.  Only one other book, published in  the late 1890s, was ever written about the cemetery and it focused mainly on wealthy men buried here.  Our book tells the history of St. Agnes and tells the story of people of all socio-economic status.  It also features beautiful full color photographs highlighting the landscape, monuments and mausoleums that make this historic cemetery a treasure.  It is registered with the National Register of Historic Places. 

TE: Tell us about your YouTube series called “Graveside Chats.”

KG: Just another way to promote the cemetery through the arts and humanities. I got a grant two consecutive years from Humanities New York, and I just pitched it to them that I want to tell the deceased story through actors. And the Albany Civic Theater was right on board so it just all came together very well. I ended up giving the DVDs to schools, because the chats have a historical theme and a premise and a lesson, so they are interesting ways to get a lesson in history. … 1867 we were founded, actually  that is an interesting story, the founder Peter Cagger, he is in the book as well, picked his spot, gave us this land, the original 50 acres, which we call Founders Hill, picked his spot and a month later he is in. Killed in a carriage accident in New York City, so poor guy, no good deed goes unpunished ... He is there among our first burials.

TE: Talk about the school programs that have been here.

KG: We’ve had a couple of very interesting and unique field trips where the children actually installed a Civil War veteran’s gravestone We used reenactors, we used the Sons of the Civil War veterans and really kind of taught the kids a lesson in civics, but also remembered men that shaped our country. Look what the Union Army did keeping us together. Rather than blurting out dates and battles and what-not, they had to hold this stone, they had to shovel the dirt in and tamp is down, They had to think about that soldier as a person. And the couple that we did, weren’t a lot older than these kids, these middle-school kids. Makes the connection much more than a classroom, blah-blah-blah history lesson.

TE: What are your hobbies?

KG: One of my favorite things in the whole world to do, and I take as much time off as I can to do it, is cross-country ski. And this year has been pretty lean. Kayaking in the summer, I have four giant dogs that I hang with by my pool. I like to paint. I love art. I collect art.

TE: What is your life philosophy?

KG: I think the bottom line is the older I get, the more true I am to myself. If it doesn’t feel right, if I don’t want to do it, some people will say that just makes you stubborn; no, it makes me understand who I am now and what I learned here. Look where my office is. Every day I see a funeral going by. When I started working here I thought ‘Gee, that’s sad.’ But then I thought I’m on the top side of the grass, I better take advantage of every single day. Realizing that really did change my philosophy on life. Let little things go and don’t let people tell me what to do.