Rich Zasada had a glamorous life as a drummer, performing rock music for huge crowds. Now the cradle Catholic is a 47-year-old father of three, and he’s going about quieter work: studying Scripture and faithfully maintaining Resurrection Cemetery in Mendota Heights, part of The Catholic Cemeteries, as a field worker.
“I’m right where the Lord wants me,” Zasada said on a chilly autumn morning at the cemetery as Canadian geese honked overhead. He and his wife, Angel, join their sons at St. John the Baptist in Savage, where the boys also go to school.
Q) You got to experience the spotlight, drumming for the rock bands Strange Day and Skywind. Then you had a turning point.
A) We were playing with Hairball at this huge event center near Green Bay, The Epic –– 6,000 or 7,000 people –– and I remember being on stage, thinking: “I’m bored.” There’s a lot of emptiness to it. The grind of it ––clawing and scratching your way to the top –– was getting to me. And it wasn’t long after that that my wife told me she was pregnant. Ultimately, that led to having them find a replacement for me.
Q) Do you still drum?
A) I still fill in shows here and there. Music has always been a big part of my life. Drumming is very physical. It releases a lot of energy. My wife jokes that it’s cheaper than therapy.
Q) Here at Resurrection Cemetery you dig graves and maintain the grounds. What’s it like?
A) The Lord always has perfect timing. If you shut up every once in a while, you can hear him speak to you. He led me here. When I started, it was life-changing. I needed to gain perspective and realize I was taking everything for granted.
There were so many times when I’d go and do a (burial) service, and I couldn’t drive away without bawling my eyes out. It was good for me to do the emotional work. When I’m rolling over graves all day long that are people who are my age, my parents’ age, my children’s age … our time here, the Bible says, it’s a vapor.
Q) The cemetery is a peaceful place for you.
A) I pray out here. Because it’s a Catholic cemetery, I don’t feel out of place when I see somebody suffering out here, asking them if they need some prayer, and I’ll pray with them right here. That’s accepted. I’m able to pray with people weekly, sometimes daily. I’m asking the Lord to present me with opportunities. I’m taking on a lot of people’s grief. That’s OK. This is where I am for a reason.
The Lord puts signs right in front of us that are road signs. Stop. Go. I don’t believe in coincidences. The Lord is trying to get us to do something.
Q) When people learn what you do, do they think it’s cool or creepy?
A) Most people think it’s really cool. A lot of my buddies are making more money, but they hate their jobs. They’re not fulfilled. I can’t say I’d be any happier if I were a rock star. I’d probably be miserable. I’ve seen so many interviews of musicians with a wall of Grammys who say: “I missed my parents getting old. I missed my kids’ birthdays. It wasn’t worth it.”
Q) People come to this cemetery even if they’re not visiting a specific grave.
A) You can find solitude out here. You can find your own spot. I’ll eat lunch out here, not in
the break room. I carry a Bible with me. Everybody does, because everybody has a cellphone. There’s one prayer that the Bible teaches us to pray, and that’s the Our Father. I get the opportunity to pray that a lot.
Q) You pray and you read the graves.
A) I look for musicians’ graves. I clean them up, just as an extra service. There’s one with a drum kit etched on the stone.
A grave that really impacted me when I started working here was (that of) a young woman named Selena. I was mowing over here, and then I looked her up. She was just 19, the victim of a rollover car accident. She was the passenger. I bawled when I learned that. She worked at the gas station. Everybody knew her.
Q) It says she was born at sunrise and died at sunset.
A) I always come over here and take care of this one.
Life is so fragile. There’s never a time I would leave my home without kissing my wife and kids. Nothing’s guaranteed. That’s why it’s important to always stay close to the Lord.
I’ve got a friend who has older kids, and he told me: “Man, I wish my kids would ask me to play with them. If your kids ever ask you to do something, just do it!”
Q) Have you always loved nature?
A) As a boy, we weren’t allowed to be inside. “We’re thirsty!” “Well, drink from the garden hose.” Nature is the Lord’s creation. It’s all magnificent. I’m a big snowboarder. So are my boys. We live by Buck Hill. I love doing that in the winters, and we go camping in the summer.
Q) When did you become a bow hunter?
A) I hadn’t been a hunter my whole life. Then I bought a bow during COVID. I lost my job along with 30 other people. I wanted to get out into the woods. I’d have to go out there to be in the real world.
Q) Do you hunt often?
A) This is my fourth turkey season. I’ve never shot an animal. I’ve only been close. But that must not be the thing that’s keeping me out there. I’m going tonight after work. I love being out there. I go to Whitewater (Wildlife Management Area). There’s a ton of public land. What’s really cool is, in a lot of those areas, there’s no cellphone service. You can’t be listening to music or watching TV. You have to be quiet.
I have found the Lord and the Lord has found me in nature, when there’s nobody around. Initially you’ve stirred up the woods. But once you’ve sat out there for a half an hour without moving, the woods calm down again. I’ve had so many animal interactions then. Something happens every day. Once, in the spring, I was sitting in the woods, and a hummingbird came right in front of me and stayed. I couldn’t believe it.
I’ve been to the Boundary Waters a few times. I think it should be required of all Americans to go. You’re in survival mode. You’ve gotten yourself into something amazing and dangerous. People come out of there changed.
Q) What do you know for sure?
A) I know the Lord loves us. He shows us in so many ways. What I know for sure is that the Lord has always had his hand on me, always, even at the times I didn’t know it or didn’t believe. It’s a great comfort. But I’m also more accountable. It’s not something I can just forget about or dismiss. Hopefully the Lord finds a way to use me.
