My Crazy Beautiful Life: May 2013

A day of remembering . . .

My mom and dad invited us to visit Morris Hill Cemetery with them today. I have an odd interest in cemeteries and spent many hours walking through this particular cemetery with our old dog, Winnie, before I had kids (seems like lifetime ago!). We lived nearby and Morris Hill was our old stomping grounds. It is also where my father's parents are buried as well as one set of Rob's grandparents. There are quite a few of my ancestors there and, way back when, I knew exactly where to find them. Today we easily located my dad's parents as well as Rob's grandparents.

My dad's dad, Chet, died when he was only 24 years old, leaving 3 little boys behind, one of them still in the womb. He was killed in a logging accident near Idaho City. Absolutely tragic. I've always wondered about him and what he was like. . .

My dad's mom, Violet, never re-married, raising her three boys alone. Thankfully there were plenty of uncles around but I can't imagine the loneliness of her life without Chet. She passed away the year Gloria was born. . .

This is a photo that, I believe, was taken on their wedding day but I could be wrong. Beautiful people. . .

This is a photo of the three little boys that were left behind. They all grew up to be pretty amazing men. My daddy is the tall one. At three years old, he was the man of the house. . .

As we wandered through the cemetery, I couldn't help but wonder about the lives of the others that were buried there as well. It may seem morbid or disrespectful to speculate about someone else's lost loved ones but I don't mean it that way at all. As a "funeral singer" I have spent many hours listening and learning about others' lives. Even people that I thought I knew well had many interesting things in their lives that I knew nothing about. I'm usually left with a sense of regret that I didn't know those things when they were alive. So, maybe, it was with a sense of regret that I wandered through the cemetery today, wondering what kind of lives these people lived. Who were they? How did they die? How did they live? What did their loved ones do after the burial when they had to pick up the pieces of their lives??

The following pictures are my meandering thoughts as the five of us walked through the cemetery today. It's kind of a downer, so don't read any further if you're already having a sad day / week / year.

I took a picture of this one because I liked the name. We don't have names like this anymore, plus, if the dates are correct, wouldn't Mabel have been 105 when she died? He would have been 64 and I would guess they were married at least 40 years and then she lived for another 48 years without him? Wow. . .

8 years old.

Her sibling. 4 years old. I cannot imagine.

There were many that had descriptive words like this one: "Galvin L. . . and . . . Nancy, his wife". . . Beautiful stone and flowers. . .

I am very curious about this one. Gorgeous matching headstones, two women, same year of death (recent- 2012) but different last names. Sisters? Friends? Cousins? 95 and 93 years old. I like to think they were the best of friends and were having some grand adventure in 2012. . .

Here is another descriptive one: Cleo, wife of A. W. Cate. She was 51. . .

Right next to Cleo is Ruth, daughter of A. W. Cate. She was 9. Her mother was 43 when she died and then passed away herself just 8 years later. . .

On the other side of Cleo lies A. W. Cate with his second wife. It's hard to say how long he waited before he re-married. He lost a wife and a daughter within 8 years of each other. I can't imagine that. He lived another 15 years after Cleo died and then Lena lived another 26 after that. . .

This is one of many that has the name of the still-living spouse on the headstone. I find that sweet and awkward at the same time. . . It's another beautiful headstone. . .

There were far too many graves like this:

I was born on the anniversary of both the birth and death of this 1 year old. . .

Beautiful headstone and I think I prefer the blank panel as opposed to the name with the empty date. . .

This next stone is for a family of four. I'm guessing it is Father, Mother and 2 sons. Both the father and one son served in the military according to the military headstones in front of the family stone and it appears that the older son, William, was killed in Vietnam. He would have been 31. His father, Francis, died 3 years later at the age of 64 (a WWII vet), the younger brother died at 49 and the Mother outlived them all at 77. Can you imagine all of the things she saw and experienced in her life time??

Hard to say what the story is here. . .

These expressions of shock are explained in the next photo:

Three siblings, born 1910, 1912 and 1915. The first one died at 12 days old, the second at 10 months old and the third at 2 1/2 years old. Too much tragedy.

The most interesting stone. . . The inscription at the bottom reads, "Erected by the Woodmen of the World"

I thought it was interesting that some of the stones listed the age in years, months AND days. . .

Natives of Ireland. . .

Jane died at the age of 39 years, probably from a broken heart. Her children lived to be only 8 years old and 9 months old. She died 1 month after her second child died. . .

Very nice remembrance of those who served:

Rob joined us just as we were finishing up and showed us where his family lies. His dad's mother died just three years after we met. I didn't know her well but I've heard sweet stories. . .