Robert Whomsley understands the repeating tableau of death and life better than most, because he’s seen it played out time and again at Catholic funerals.

Whomsley formally retired May 16 from a career in cemetery services. 

Director of the Office of Catholic Cemeteries since 1996, he became director of the Office for General Services and Archdiocesan liaison for the Catholic Cemeteries when cemetery services were leased to an outside firm in 2014.

In total, he’s worked 52 years in cemetery services, writes Matthew Gambino for Catholic Philly.

A naïve of Darby, and a Msgr. Bonner High School graduate, Whomsley began his career in 1972 at age 19, mowing the lawns of Saints Peter and Paul Cemetery in Springfield. 

As director, he supervised the 2018 transferal of the remains of St. Katharine Drexel from her shrine in Bensalem to a new shrine in the Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul in Philadelphia.

Reflecting on his career, Whomsley said it was a job where you “not only bury the dead, [but] you comfort the sorrowful, counsel the doubtful, and bear wrongs patiently. Catholic cemeteries is a ministry, whether you’re in the office or the fields.”

Read more about Robert Whomsley’s career in Catholic Philly.