Three-year study brings graveyards alive.
STEVE LEWIS/Durango Herald - Wallace Patcheck closes the gate on the Zion Evangelical Lutheran Cemetery near his home near the intersection of Cherry Creek Road (County Road 105) and U.S. Highway 160.
STEVE LEWIS/Durango Herald - DURANGO - Wallace Patcheck said there are around 28 graves at the one-acre cemetery, including one unmarked grave, and this one fashioned from a stone taken from the area.
STEVE LEWIS/Durango Herald - Wallace Patcheck, left, and Bill Wampner, both members of St. Paul's Lutheran Church in Durango, walk through an old cemetery still owned by the church near Patcheck's home near the intersection of Cherry Creek Road (County Road 105) and U.S. Highway 160.
STEVE LEWIS/Durango Herald - Wallace Patcheck, left, and Bill Wampner, both members of St. Paul's Lutheran Church in Durango, visit an old cemetery still owned by the church near Patcheck's home near the intersection of Cherry Creek Road (County Road 105) and U.S. Highway 160.
STEVE LEWIS/Durango Herald - DURANGO - Bill Wampner, left, and Wallace Patcheck take note of several prairie dog holes that have popped up recently at an old cemetery near Patcheck's home near the intersection of Cherry Creek Road (County Road 105) and U.S. Highway 160. The cemetery holds several of Patcheck's ancestors.
STEVE LEWIS/Durango Herald - Wallace Patcheck looks at one of the Olbert graves at a cemetery near his home off U.S. Highway 160 near the intersection of Cherry Creek Road (County Road 105). Patcheck said he is related to the Olbert's, one of the original settlers in Thompson Park, on his mother's side.
STEVE LEWIS/Durango Herald - Bill Wampner, left, and Wallace Patcheck walk past the former site of the Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church on the way to the cemetery near Patcheck's home off U.S. Highway 160 near the intersection of Cherry Creek Road (County Road 105). The cemetery holds several of Patcheck's ancestors.
STEVE LEWIS/Durango Herald - Bill Wampner, left, and Wallace Patcheck look at one of the Olbert graves at a cemetery near Patcheck's home off U.S. Highway 160 near the intersection of Cherry Creek Road (County Road 105). Patcheck said he is related to the Olbert's, one of the original settlers in Thompson Park, on his mother's side.
STEVE LEWIS/Durango Herald - Wallace Patcheck, front, and Bill Wampner, both members of St. Paul's Lutheran Church in Durango, walk through an old cemetery still owned by the church near Patcheck's home near the intersection of Cherry Creek Road (County Road 105) and U.S. Highway 160. Numerous of Patcheck's ancestors are buried at the one-acre site.
STEVE LEWIS/Durango Herald - Bill Wampner, left, and Wallace Patcheck, both members of St. Paul's Lutheran Church in Durango, walk through a cemetery owned by the church near Patcheck's home near the intersection of Cherry Creek Road (County Road 105) and U.S. Highway 160. There are fewer than 30 graves at the one-acre site.
