Man Dies After Digging Mother’s Grave

BEMIDJI, Minn. — Floyd Hightshoe wanted to dig his mother’s grave as a final tribute. Now he’s buried beside her.

On April 20, Hightshoe spent much of the day at the cemetery, digging the grave by hand for his mother, Stella Hightshoe, who died at age 78 last week.

He collapsed and died as he was chatting with family and friends who had dropped by the cemetery to keep him company as he worked.

On Thursday, the 39-year-old self-employed logger was buried next to his mother in a grave that also was a tribute--dug by family and friends.

“He had told one of his brothers that he wanted to dig it himself, that nobody else was going to,” recalled the Rev. Bruce Peterson, who presided at Hightshoe’s funeral.

His sister, Evelyn Walters, said her brother--who never married and lived with his dog, Max--was brokenhearted when their mother died. She was sure that contributed to his death.

“He loved his mom very much and vice versa,” she said.

Peterson said Hightshoe told “people not to waste time worrying, that things will work out.” So at his funeral, the pastor used a text from the book of John that begins, “Do not be troubled.”

Then Hightshoe was laid to rest in the cemetery where he never got to see his mother buried.