Grave digger Allen McCloskey is so dedicated to his job that he even carried out the heart-wrenching task of preparing his wife’s final resting place.
The 89-year-old, from Galveston, Indiana, USA, holds the record for longest career as a grave digger (male), having dug his first grave by hand in 1952.
And he’s still going strong today.
In fact, Allen will mark his 71st anniversary in the job on 28 August.
Dad-of-three Allen was recently featured on CBS Evening News in a touching segment that saw locals talking about just how “special” a guy he is.
The dedicated digger talked of making graves for people he went to school with and worked with, but said the toughest job of them all was digging a grave for his beloved wife, Barbara.
When asked how he got through it, he said: “Well, I figured she’d want me to do it.”
Allen was seen weeping in footage of him arriving at a surprise party thrown by residents of the town to celebrate him and present him with his Guinness World Records title.
The townsfolk also spoke of all the odd jobs Allen has done for them over the years, and how he’d refuse to let them pay.
When quizzed about it by reporter Steve Hartman, Allen simply gave a hearty laugh, demonstrating just how nice a person he is.
Allen’s son Dean said: “[He] never set out to achieve an official GWR title for the longest career as a grave digger."
His career began in 1952 when a grave digger at Center Cemetary asked Allen to cover for him so he could take his wife on vacation.
Dean added: “After the gentleman’s return, he asked Allen if he wanted to continue digging. It was a very labour-intensive process back then, as it was not mechanized. For about the first five years he dug all the graves by hand.”
By 1957, Allen bought his first backhoe tractor, which kept him in the trade until the early 1970s, when he upgraded to a better model, which he still uses today.
Allen has kept detailed notes throughout his whole career, marking down the name of the deceased, their age and date of their death, the name of the cemetery, and the undertaker laying them to rest.
He’s dug graves in over 20 cemeteries and has spent more then 25,000 days on the job and dug thousands of graves.
Applying for the record on his behalf, Dean said: “He is the type of humble person who would not get caught up in the notoriety or recognition, but we, as his family, believe his hard work should be commended and documented.”
Since becoming a record holder, Allen has received fan mail from all over the States.
People have been sending letters to the local Town Hall and to funeral directors to congratulate him on his record-breaking career.
Dean says Allen has been joking about needing a new hat because his head is getting so big from all the praise.
Before Allen, a man named Johann Heinrich Karl Thieme, from Aldenburg, Germany, was the longest-serving grave digger.
He dug 23,311 graves during a 50-year career that ended in 1826.
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