"Family owned for over 50 years — Our family taking care of yours"

Leisinger Family History of Gravedigging

A woman in a line of work no other female has worked in and one that many of us would shy away from anyway, a female gravedigger. Veronica Leisinger, mother of 11 children, started digging graves by hand in 1952 in the Wentworth, South Dakota and Madison, South Dakota areas. She started this occupation to earn extra income to fund her children's college education costs. She readily admits that is was sometimes very hard personally to dig a grave for a neighbor or close friend. She also mowed many of the cemeteries that she dug on for many years. In 1978 after 26 years in the hand grave digging business, she officially retired from grave digging. Jointly, Jerry (Veronica's grandson) and Thomas (Veronica's oldest son) decided to continue with the tradition of her business. Jerry and Thomas dug the graves by hand until 1990 at which time they purchased the first backhoe. Although this ended the tradition of hand-dug graves, it allowed for a full-time business opportunity. In 1996, Jerry decided to make grave digging his full-time occupation, after being an equipment operator for a major construction company in Sioux Falls, South Dakota for over 14 years. Jerry and Thomas continued to grow the business, caretaking of local cemeteries and grave digging in the Sioux Falls, South Dakota region.

2008 marks 56 years of grave digging in the Leisinger family. Bubba's Digging & Lawn Service, Inc. is now well-known in the area with many cemetery boards and funeral home directors for their professional and quality workmanship. Jerry also works with many local contractors for commercial and residential excavation projects in and around the Sioux Falls region.

What once started out as one mother's passion for her children has now turned into a family tradition and legacy of caring for the deceased.