Minnesota Spirit Quest - West Union Lutheran Cemetery
The cache is not located near a grave... If you find a fallen US flag, please stick it back in the ground. As always, please be respectful, and cache in, trash out. Also, please only search for cache during daylight hours.
The coordinates will bring you to the gravesite of Wayne A. Larson. Wayne Larson was a private in the Marines before passing away in a vehicle accident in Waconia in 1975. He was 19.
On his grave site,
What day was he born? This equals A.
What day did he die? This equals B.
Then:
N 44.43.00(A+7)
W 93.46.08(B+3)
West Union Lutheran Cemetery
This sizable cemetery has regular care and is in good shape. The West Union Lutheran Church and Cemetery are located near the southern part of Lake Maria, in rural Carver County, near the towns of Gotha and the West Union settlement area. The cemetery sign states it was founded in 1858.
This church's congregation is closely related to the members of the East Union Lutheran Church Congregation.
In the "Compendium of History and Biography of Carver and Hennepin Counties, Minnesota" [1915] edited by Maj. R.I. Holcombe and William H. Bingham, they wrote: 'West Union Evangelical Lutheran Church, in the northeastern corner of the township, was organized by Rev. P.Carlson and a frame church was built before the Civil War.'
In the Carver County Historical Publication 'In the Tracks of the Swedish Settlers in Carver County', as written by Susanna Thilquist, in 1988,'... the West Union congregation was organized in December 1858, about six months after East Union. The Union Settlement had expanded rapidly, especially to the west and south. The people in the west wished to have a closer church ... The two churches were then named East Union and West Union.' (page 5).