Our History

Restlawn Memorial Park Association was founded on May 16, 1929 by a group of prominent Wausau businessmen. The first perpetual care trust was established one year later and remains in effect today.

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In 1944, L. J. Corbeille and his family took over ownership for the cemetery and renamed it Restlawn Memorial Park. William F. Krause became affiliated with the Park in 1949 as its accountant. Records suggest Restlawn was Mr. Krause’s first client when he opened his accounting practice. The cemetery was sold to Mr. Krause on September 16, 1960. Mr. Krause’s two sons, William F. Jr. and Tom G. managed the Park since 1960.

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In April, 1966, the Bishop of La Crosse, and pastors from area Catholic churches entered an agreement for Restlawn to provide burial space to Catholic families from the area. This affiliation with the Catholic Community continues to this day as evidenced by the three Catholic gardens and Catholic mausoleum.

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In 1977, The Tribute Companies was retained to design and market the cemetery’s first mausoleum. The firm successfully marketed several more buildings at Restlawn including “The Christus Catholic Mausoleum” and “The Memorial Chapel Mausoleum”, and in 1998, the company acquired ownership of Restlawn.

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On September 2nd of 2002, the Park was directly impacted by what turned out to be a category F-1 tornado. Over three hundred trees were either uprooted or severely damaged. While several memorials were moved or tipped over by fallen trees, no graves were disturbed. The mausoleums withstood the direct impact of the tornado extremely well and received only minor damage. Restlawn continues to promote its “Tree of Remembrance” program (planting trees in memory of loved ones) to replace the natural beauty that was lost in the tornado.

 

Today, Restlawn is one of four cemeteries within Wisconsin, family owned and operated by a division of The Tribute Companies. The Tribute Companies (see www.tributeinc.com for further information) is owned by Christine Toson  who succeeded her father, William R. Toson.  The Tribute Companies consists of three different divisions offering various products and services to the cemetery and funeral industry.

 

Christine represents the fourth generation to operate cemeteries and has managed Restlawn Memorial Park since 2003. The cemetery remains one of a few family owned and operated memorial parks in the State of Wisconsin, which the Toson family takes great pride in.