In February of 1915 a little boy, Ernest Johnson, son of Mr. and Mrs. Harry Johnson who lived 20 miles east of Roy, was scalded and died. At that time the grandfather, E. D. Johnson and A. Diamond purchased the land now known as the ...Roy Cemetery. This boy was the first to be buried there.
  In the years 1918 and 1919 there were many deaths from the flu. Many lots were sold, and the cemetery, of course, became larger.
  In 1924 the land was purchased from Diamond by W. E. Jones and owned by him until his death in October, 1951. The heirs, Mrs. Josie Jones, Opal, Doris and Earl Jones, decided that the best way was to give the Roy Presbyterian Church the west half and the Catholic Church the east half of the cemetery, and the deeds were made to each.
  Each church is responsible for the upkeep of their respective sides of the cemetery. Water must be hauled ^{P. 278} for flowers. It is impossible to keep grass growing however bushes, brick and cement partitions and the upkeep lend a generally clean well-kept appearance to the cemetery.
  One of the markers of special interest is of cedar. Standing about two and a half feet tall it has the original trunk of the tree buried in the ground. The top and sides have been carved and varnished for its protection. 

  The Roy Cemetery sets at the top of a windy sun drenched hill overlooking Roy. It is a permanent reminder of the past. Markers in quiet solitude against the Big Sky stand as tributes to those pioneers who fought the elements to make way for the present.
 For several years people who had family members buried in the cemetery cut the grass pulled the weeds hauled water, and cleaned up around their relatives graves, but keeping the whole place up was a large chore for so few; so in the 1960s the Silver Sage 4-H club, as a community beautification and service project took on the job of helping to clean up the cemetery for Memorial Day The Valley View Extension Club decided to help them out, and it wasn't long before the Black Butte Shadows 4-H club joined in the effort, and so each year a certain date and time in May was selected and a large group of youngsters and adults would gather and work to make the hillside graveyard look just a little better.
  In the early l980's Marilyn Kananen, who lived next to the cemetery, took a "historical" interest in it. She began to locate records and to try to identify the graves where markers no longer stood or with names so faded that they were unreadable. it wasn't long before she had piqued the interest of many, among them Frank Cimrhakl who alone had, for years, spent extra time and effort in trying to keep the cemetery from its own death.
  By early 1983 a new chain link fence bought with donations and memorials had been installed. Cimrhakl donated a new sign post for the entry which Chuck Kananen created.
  Trees were donated by the Valley View Club as well as by Cimrhakl, flowering crabs and evergreens, and they are flourishing.
  Metal markers, made by Jerry Cloyd of Lewistown, were set in cement and placed at the unmarked area At other graves, markers were re-set and graves leveled to make mowing and up-keep easier.
  No longer does the Roy Cemetery stand alone and almost forgotten it's now, once again, a place that shows respect and love for the pioneer ancestors that rest there.
  Not many burials take place in Roy any more, but occasionally a pioneer requests to be buried as near to his beloved prairie as possible
[A list of burials in Roy Cemetery can be obtained from the Roy History
committee and Genealogy Society at Lewistown Carnegie Library.]

  In 1913, after a sudden illness, a W. M. Rowland who lived in the Black Butte area, passed away. The funeral is worth noting as typical of its era and of the people.
  The funeral itself was held in a beautiful little white church in Gilt Edge. People came from as far as 60 miles distance to attend. The casket was completely covered with hundreds of white prairie lilies that the neighbors had picked. The casket was brought out from Lewistown by wagon and team.
  A never-to-he forgotten scene occurred as the long funeral cortage wound its way across the prairie for about 80 miles.
  Two young and carefree cowboys, suddenly came upon the funeral procession. instantly they brought their horses to attention; took off their hats and sat with bowed heads until the long line of wagons, buggies and buckboards slowly passed by.

  In 1935 Cliff Emery and Jim Kellner's father were working for the W. P.A. over west on the Romundstad place digging gravel, when they hit a coffin. One of the boards was pulled off the coffin accidentally by the digger. Inside was the body of a little blonde girl, about ten years old. She had long yellow hair, in perfect curls, down the side of her face. Cliff said they looked perfect, but when you touched them they disintegrated just like ash. The sheriff came out and they eventually moved her to the Roy cemetery.
  We don't know where she is buried or what her name is. Evidently no one knows. The parents came into the country in a covered wagon on their way to California. They were out of money and stopped to work a short while at the Romundstad place While they were there the little girl died and was buried. Mrs. Romundstad remembered her because she and the little girl were about the same age when the parents had come into the country. ^{P. 279}

  There are many small graveyards and lone graves scattered throughout the area; several have been identified. There are probably many more.
  One rancher in the Valentine area discovered a grave when he inadvertently plowed it up.
  On a small knoll, high above the Missouri River is the graveyard of Humpy King's family. It is on the south side of the river, near Ring Island, down-river a few miles from the Fred Robinson Bridge.
  On the north side of the Missouri, near the Rock Creek Ranch (now Roy Peters) is a small enclosed graveyard where Donald William Pugh, Oct 28, 1893-Apr 14, 1913 and his nephew, Dennison Pugh Owens, Jan. 2, 1915 Feb. of 1918, are buried. The child, Dennison, fell into a tub of hot water and was scalded to death.
  Further on down the river is singular graves, lay Tate Blumfield, father of Edith Blair, and baby girl, **(Martha Marie) Phillips. The Blumfield grave is near the UL Bend, on the north side of the river. He was struck by lightning and killed, June 13, 1915. The little Phillips baby, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Lynn Phillips. Her grave was moved from its original location to a higher hill, before Ft Peck flooded the area. It is on the south side of the river. 
  Frank Athearn's wife, (Amy), and John Athearn's first wife Susie C. Maxfield, are both buried in a graveyard on the river hill, above lake level near the old Athearn ranch site.
  There was a family graveyard on the Box Elder Ranch until the middle 60's, when it was moved to Lewistown. There are still beautiful blue spruce trees that mark the spot where the graves were. Creel's took all the stones and markers. The wrought iron fence that surrounded the graveyard was also taken down. It was beautiful. Harriet and Will Landru tended it for many years and planted shrubs and flowers,
  Among those that were buried there were Ellen Romundstad, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Odin Romundstad, some of the Fergus family and a baby of Peggy and Bill Landru.
  In a small enclosed area on the Don Kalina ranch, west of the highway, lies baby girl Sramek. She died a few hours after birth.
  On the south side of Coal Hill, east side of the highway, in John Maruska's pasture, is the grave of Mrs. Wm. Stiendorf, wife of a homesteader. The story is told that it was so bitter cold when she died that her body was hung from the rafters in the granary, so rodents wouldn't bother it, until a grave could be dug. The weather moderated in about 10 days and the chore was done. Her husband, a casket maker made her casket. It was buried quite shallow as the ground was too hard to dig in.
  Near Black Butte, a brother of Bill Davis is buried. There is also another baby, (Blue Boy Doney), buried at the same spot They possibly died during the 1919 flu epidemic. The grave site is outlined with rocks and is still visible.
  Also near Black Butte in the area where the Gardipees lived (somewhere close to where the pass comes through between Black Butte and the Judiths) there is a set of twins buried. They died at birth and were buried in shoe boxes It is believed they were Gardipee babies. This is also the area where Kenneth "Buster" Bischoff accidentally shot himself
  In the Dory area, east of Bohemian Corners, on the Frank Bare homestead, lie the triplets, born to Emma Bare, mother of Leona Corth.
  There were several funerals held in the CZBJ Lodge. Frank Kosir and Mrs. Stiendorf's among them. Chairman of the Lodge John Horyna, conducted these services. At other places family friends, who "had religion", would conduct services for the deceased.
  At the forks of Armells below Yaegers, an Indian princess, as was the custom of Plains Indians, was 'buried' in a tree with all her clothes and jewelry. The tree has long since fallen down, but Rae Landru told of finding beads, some home-made and some trader beads at the site. One can only guess what happened to the Indian maiden's remains.
  How many more graves are there where tiny infants and or their mothers lie? How many Indian braves or pioneers, who were stilled by the flu or some other disaster, sleep beneath the prairie grasses? And how many families were there, who forever wondered what became of their beloved sons and daughters? No one will ever know.

• Roy Cemetery
• The family cemetery at the Romundstad (Box Elder) Ranch as it looked in 1937. All the graves, markers and fence were moved into Lewistown in the 60's.
• The grave sites of Donald Pugh and his nephew Dennison Owens. Typical of the many scattered grave sites in the area.