St Michael's Chapel Riverside Cemetery

Founded in 1876, Riverside Cemetery is the resting place of many of Denver's pioneers, as well as a lot of Globeville's residents. One of my favorite spots is Block 19, home to the members of Holy Transfiguration of Christ Orthodox Cathedral at 349 East 47th Avenue in Globeville.

The church was founded in 1898 by Slavs from homelands that ceased to exist when these countries were annexed by Austria-Hungary, Russia or Germany: Ruthenia, Bukovenia, Bohemia, Carpatho-Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Czechs, Slovakia, and Moravia. If their origins sounded exotic, their circumstances were desperate. 

The empires who oppressed them required them to serve in their armies. And they were starving - their small farms wouldn't sustain large families. Crafts formerly made by hand were now churned out by machines. And so they fled, taking gritty jobs in smelters, railroads and meat packing, working 12 hour days for meager wages.

They settled near each other in the neighborhood between 47th and 48th Avenue, and Grant and Logan Streets, and they are buried alongside each other in Block 19.

It's easy to find this special plot. Many grave markers feature the unique three-bar crucifix of the Orthodox faith, and there are memorials with gold onion domes, or inscriptions in Cyrillic or Russian. Most striking is a small sky-blue chapel, constructed in 1922 in memory of John Wysowatcky who was killed in action in the last weeks of World War I. Each year, a Requiem Mass is held in this small building on the first Sunday after Easter, known as St. Thomas Sunday, to honor deceased members of the parish. Another Mass is celebrated there on Memorial Day.

Riverside Cemetery is a gem. Come wander the grounds and visit Denver's early settlers. Stop by Block 19 and read the inscriptions on the memorials of Globeville's Holy Transfiguration Orthodox Cathedral. 

 

Requiem Mass, Saint Thomas Sunday

Frederick F. Dometrovich, Theodore Dorak, Lawrence Goreski

There is a stained glass window above the altar in Holy Rosary Church that was donated in 1920 by the Dometrovich family, immigrants from Croatia. How proud they were to have son Frederick complete school at North High, then graduate from the University of Colorado School of Medicine. At age 34, married, and the father of two children, Dometrovich would have been exempt from the draft, but enlisted in the Army Medical Corps in August, 1942. Dometrovich served as a physician in the South Pacific, including Oro Bay, New Guinea and Gilbert Islands and died as the result of typhus contracted in the line of duty. Survived by his wife, children Margo and Fred, Jr., mother Mrs. Anna Dometrovich, brothers Frank and John, and sister Mrs. Mary Hamilton, Dometrovich received the American Theater Medal, and the Asiatic Pacific Medal and Citation.

Theodore Kenneth Dorak was one of many young men who enlisted in the Navy December 8, 1941, the day after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. After training at San Diego, California, Dorak was assigned to the Naval Air Force aboard the USS Yorktown. A later assignment took Dorak to the aircraft carrier USS Franklin, where he participated in air raids over Marcus, Wake, Kwajalein, Truk, Saipan, Palau, Hollandia, and the Japanese mainland. Killed in action March, 1945, during a battle off the Japanese coast, Dorak was remembered with a plaque on the east side of St. Michael's Chapel at Riverside Cemetery. Dorak was survived by his parents, Mr. and Mrs. E. E. Dorak, brothers Edward J. Jr. and Daniel Dorak, and sister Mary Ellen Dorak. Dorak was awarded the Purple Heart, Asiatic Pacific Medal, Presidential Unit Citation, and the American Theater, Good Conduct and World War II Victory Medals.

Lawrence Goreski was 27 years old, married to Margaret and had a young daughter, Laura Jean when he enlisted in the Army Air Force January 11, 1942, a month after Pearl Harbor. Goreski entered flight training at Ellington Field, Houston, Texas, and received his commission as 2nd Lieutenant at Victorville, California. Assigned to combat flight duties in England October 28, 1942, Goreski was reported Missing in Action December 30, 1942, while participating in a bombing mission of a submarine base in Lorient, France. Besides his wife and children, Goreski was survived by his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Pete Goreski, and a brother, Paul Goreski. Goreski received the Purple Heart, European Theater, American Theater and World War II Victory Medals.