By JoAnn Biren
Murray County News Staffwriter
It was a mixed group who met at a restaurant in Slayton recently to discuss updates and future plans for the Slayton Cemetery, located north of Slayton across the highway from the golf course.
Slayton High School alum Bob Erickson was selected by the group to be the chairman of the cemetery board and has concrete ideas of how bringing life, tongue in cheek, to the cemetery. “Look around at the names, you’ll see the history of our town out there,” he said with quiet dignity.
He is correct. The names of Peters, Kepler, Dahlquist, Nord, Pryor, Gass, Nywall were found in a small area; the cemetery covers five acres and the names indeed do tell the story of Slayton.
Erickson’s parents are buried at the cemetery and his dad, Alan Erickson, who owned a jewelry store on the main street of Slayton for many years; at one time served as the chairman of the cemetery board. His son doesn’t mind following in his dad’s footsteps.
According to a file at the Murray County Museum, the village council purchased five acres of land from W.S. French for the cemetery and paid $50 an acre. That was in 1886.
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