Fr. Stapenhorst carries on tradition - Priest searches for rock in Montana

By RENEE WEBB, Globe editor
September 22, 2005

WEST BEND - For about 10 years now Father Verne Stapenhorst has been giving tours at the Grotto of the Redemption in West Bend.

On the tours at the Christmas grotto - one that contains a lot of petrified wood - he noted that he always made a point to tell people that Father Louis Greving, the former director of the Grotto, had collected 65 tons of petrified wood from ranchers in Wibaux, Montana.

"That little town always kind of fascinated me, but I just gave the tour and never really investigated it," noted Father Stapenhorst, pastor at Sacred Heart Church in Laurens. "In the last couple of years I thought that I should go to Wibaux and make connections with those ranchers again. I wasn't sure if they were still living or if the ranches were in the same family and so forth."

Ed Fosness, a stone mason who has done some work at the West Bend grotto, had made a trip to the Montana town to place a plaque there to honor the people of Wibaux for their contributions to the Grotto.

"He gave me some names," noted Father Stapenhorst.

This past summer would have been 50 years ago since the late Father Greving made trips to Montana to find petrified wood.

Father Stapenhorst, a self-proclaimed rock hound, made his third trip to Montana this past summer and plans to make a fourth trip later this fall.

"The ranchers remember Father Greving. They were all kids when he was there to collect the petrified wood and now they are my age. Many of them are retired now and some of them are living on the land, but rent out the ranch. They welcomed me with open arms," he said.

The trip wasn't merely made for curiosity's sake alone - Father Stapenhorst was there to hunt rock.

He pointed out that while it is called petrified wood, it is actually rock. Father Stapenhorst described it as a replacement process where the rock eventually takes the shape of the tree trunk or branch. The word petrified means turned to stone. He estimated that the petrified wood is about 65 million years old.

He did most of the hunting for the petrified wood on three ranches. One was the ranch of Al and Lucille Bigger. They own the ranch where Father Greving had picked up the majority of the petrified wood.

"It was on their ranch and the (Joe and Irene) Bodolski Ranch that is adjacent to it where I picked up the wood. I continued the legacy of the grotto," noted Father Stapenhorst. Some of these people had helped Father Greving collect the rock when they were young.

The third ranch was that of Louis and Diane Dobrowski. The former Grotto director had not collected rocks from their land, but the couple had been to the West Bend grotto several times.

The ranchers accompanied Father Stapenhorst as he hunted for the petrified wood. Some of these same people had hunted for rock with Father Greving.

It is pasture, hay and butte country. They raise some wheat out there as well.

On his recent trips, Father Stapenhorst used his Jeep Cherokee to haul about one ton of the petrified wood each time. For one trip, he borrowed a pickup.

The ranchers remember Father Greving hauling back the wood in semi-trucks. The Christmas grotto alone used 65 tons of petrified wood and the rock was used in other areas, too, such as the restrooms.

"The Grotto is not only made up of rock and agate, but there are a lot of petrifications, too, and fossils and shells," noted Father Stapenhorst.

Hunting for the rock, he noted, wasn't as easy as just walking around.

"You stumble through the rocks and fall through the prickly pear, cactus and yuccas and have to be careful of the rattlesnakes," he said. "It's harsh country."

Father Stapenhorst described the land of the Montana ranches as truly the road less traveled. It was wide-open country.

He noted that the petrified wood is extremely heavy, so he grateful for the assistance of the ranchers. Some of the pieces of rock were several hundred pounds.

Much of the rock that he has gathered on his trips to Montana has been placed in a rock garden that is located outside of the Grotto office and gift shop. He will add more petrified wood in its natural state as well as some cut and polished pieces that help show off the beauty of the rock. Next summer, he would like to see the addition of a cascading waterfall to the rock garden.

He may add some of the cut pieces of rock to the Grotto museum display and other pieces that have been cut and polished could possibly be sold. Kevin Montag, an employee of the Grotto, has helped Father Stapenhorst cut and move the rock.

Knowing that he walked in the same step as Father Greving on those Montana ranches "was very rewarding. It filled me with a sense of gratitude that I could carry on a legacy of Father Greving."