History of the Rush Ridge Cemetery Association

After the Rush Ridge Methodist Church disbanded in approximately 1905, the cemetery around the former church remained. It was cared for primarily by William Alfred “Will” Swank, a descendant of William Alfred and Lucinda Brewer Rush, who had given the land for the church in 1840.  William Alfred Swank at this time owned the farm across the concrete highway from the cemetery.

In 1912, needing a plot to bury his two-year-old son Bryan, Will staked out the location of the former church building (which had now been moved out of the cemetery) as a plot for his family.  In 1919 Will and his wife Alma buried a second child, two-year-old daughter Lily, in the family plot.

In January 1930, after a series of financial setbacks and surviving multiple floods in Mississippi County, “Will” and Alma , seeking higher ground and end to floodwaters, moved some 60 miles west to Poplar Bluff, Missouri, .  Only a few months later Will Swank died, and, as he wished, was buried “back home” at Rush Ridge.  

After this time maintenance of the cemetery lagged and by the 1950’s the rich black soil of the cemetery was supporting a jungle of plants 8 – 10 feet tall.  Alma and her children , now adults, began returning to the cemetery every Fathers Day to remember Will and care for the cemetery.   In those years often only the small area around the graves of Will and the children and Will’s grandparents, the Rushes, would be cleaned off by the end of Fathers Day.

After Alma Swank died in 1967, she was buried next to Will, giving her and Will’s children even more reason to care for Rush Ridge Cemetery.

Others joined in:  in particular, Ruel Swank contributed both time and effort for many years to care for the cemetery, as did Mrs. Virginia Shively and her family, including her son Bill Feezor and Bill’s wife, Joan.

In 1982 the United Methodist Church deeded its residual interest in the cemetery to the then newly-formed Rush Ridge Cemetery Association. 

All of Will and Alma’s children were involved in supporting the cemetery, but in particular Mrs. Erma Swank Ferguson and Mrs. Amy Swank Berry doggedly worked at spraying the weeds several times each year, and overseeing contract mowing and trimming throughout the 1980s and ‘90s.  Mrs. Ferguson worked at the cemetery almost until her death in 2000.  Mrs. Berry to this day continues to serve as the Secretary of the Rush Ridge Cemetery Association.