Bob Klosinski retired Sept. 11 after more than three decades of caring for grieving families at Mount Olivet Cemetery. (Submitted photo)

On his final day at Mount Olivet Cemetery, Bob Klosinski realized how deeply he had touched the lives of the families he had served for 34 years.

Families he had come to know gathered under a tent to honor him. Messages of gratitude hung from cemetery trees. Some brought cards, others tears and hugs. One woman reserved a special seat with a sign reading “King Bob.”

For Klosinski, who had never expected such a farewell, the outpouring of affection was overwhelming.

“I tried to work hard and be a good person,” he said. “A lot of people missed me. People gave me cards and said goodbye and cried. It made me feel good.”

Klosinski retired Sept. 11, leaving behind more than carefully tended grounds and beautifully maintained memorials. He left a legacy of compassion, kindness and quiet service to generations of grieving families.

After 14 years in construction, an economic downturn led Klosinski to cemetery work. He spent more than three decades in the profession, including time at Good Hope Cemetery. “I never got laid off,” he said.

As foreman, Klosinski oversaw grave preparation, memorial lettering, crypts and grounds maintenance.

He enjoyed being outside, watching the seasons change and, perhaps most importantly, meeting the visitors to the cemetery.

Some encounters stayed with him for years.

“One day, a woman came up to me and said, ‘You are still here? You just about buried all of my relatives,’” said Klosinski. “She said it was comforting to see someone who genuinely cared about everything. It made me feel really good that she said that.”

Another encounter involved a mother whose 23-year-old daughter, a nurse at St. Luke’s Hospital, had been killed by a drunk driver on Miller Parkway. Klosinski had helped the family during that difficult time and remembered the young woman, whose photograph was displayed on her memorial stone.

Years later, when the mother returned to the cemetery, she was surprised to find him still working there. She wasn’t sure he would remember her, but he did. When he mentioned her daughter’s photograph on the stone, the woman began to cry.

“She remembered that I once walked her through the snow to show her a burial lot,” said Klosinski. “She was surprised that I was going to retire. She thanked me for taking such care of her daughter, gave me a hug and a kiss, and said she loved me.”

Susan Switalski, location manager at Mount Olivet Cemetery, said that attention to detail and compassion were apparent in everything Klosinski did.

“I have never seen so much reverence and care devoted to a job,” she said. “His heart was obviously in it.”

Switalski explained that Klosinski understood that every grave he prepared belonged to someone’s mother, father, child or friend.

“He treated each service with dignity, even when families remained nearby to watch the placement of cremated remains in a mausoleum niche,” she said.

Afterward, he would carefully replace the memorial stone, polish it and take his time completing the work.

A retirement celebration at Mount Olivet Cemetery gave families an opportunity to thank longtime foreman Bob Klosinski for his decades of compassionate service. (Submitted photo)

“It was very slow, very reverent, dignified,” Switalski said. “There was no thought of anyone watching him. It came from his heart.”

For Klosinski, working at a Catholic cemetery added another dimension to his vocation. He considered it a privilege to earn a living while caring for others, and he was grateful for the health that enabled him to do physically demanding work for so many years.

“The dear Lord blessed me with the health to keep working,” he said. “I never used a sick day other than taking off for hernia surgery way back.”

Klosinski, who turned 70 in October, and his wife, Renee, have been married 42 years. They have a daughter and belong to St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Muskego. Retirement may bring travel and, he joked, a honey-do list.

But families were not ready to let Klosinski leave without showing him how much he meant to them.

Switalski said she had to persuade the humble Klosinski to allow the retirement party, explaining that the families needed a chance to thank him and say goodbye. Approximately 50 people attended, and at least nine messages of gratitude were posted on trees throughout the cemetery.

“It was the most beautiful thing I have ever seen,” Switalski said. “Generations of families came. I don’t think I will ever see something like that again.”

Klosinski has since helped train his successor, whom Switalski says shares his gentleness and mannerisms. The two occasionally meet for breakfast.

Klosinski will return to Mount Olivet for the cemetery’s Advent Mass of Remembrance, helping light candles for those who have died.

For him, the cemetery was never simply a workplace.

“It was a blessing,” he said. “I felt like I was working in God’s house. It was very special. It felt as if everything was holy all the time.”