A Mission

As you all probably know I am a volunteer at Find A Grave.  We spent a number of days walking local cemeteries.  We still have one to walk if the weather permits. 

Tuesday was the day I chose to walk this Catholic Cemetery.  I have two aunts, two uncles and two cousins buried there.  Far Guy went along, Chance watched from the car.  I gave Far Guy a camera so if he found a grave that I needed a photo of he could do it.  We had 35 graves to find and found 24 of them…so it was a successful afternoon in the rain/snow.

The grounds of this little cemetery will put many other larger cemeteries to shame. 

It is well kept.  See the Christmas tree?

They added some black dirt to low areas this Fall and probably seeded with grass too so in the spring the grass will grow.  The middle patches of black dirt are right in front of my Uncle George and Aunt Grace’s headstone.  It was thoughts of my Aunt Gracie that made this a mission to complete before winter….she died last May and I wondered if the engraved dates were in place.  They were.

I found a classmate’s grave and headstone, and my cousin Lyle has a brand new beautiful headstone.  I photographed both.  It was a lousy day for photos but they are what they are and are better than nothing. I can always replace them with better photos in the Summer.

Now I have the photos to enter at Find A Grave….I have started a list of obituaries to transcribe…but that is a winter after Christmas project.   I have asked a number of people for photos and or obituaries.  Some obits will have to be researched and found in newspapers.

So now we say goodbye to November and hello to December.  The days are so dark and dreary that I am tempted to just wish the month away. It has been raining and or snowing for days.

Wistful Wednesday: Two Uncles

My parents come from large families.  Since my Dad has eleven brothers and two sisters I have many Uncles.

 

This must have been taken at some family gathering.  Cousin Verniel took the photo and shared it with me.

Uncle George on the left and Uncle Arnold on the right….looks like they brought out some sauna dressing room benches into the yard.  Looks like they were at Uncle Ervin’s place just from the lay of the land.  Late on summer evenings that woods would be filled with fireflies.

Uncle George was son number eight and Uncle Arnold was child number thirteen and son number twelve.  My Dad was son number ten.

Uncle George was a farmer and a fixer.  A piece of baling twine could be used to fix many things.  He was a kind, kind man.  He married Aunt Grace and together they merged her girls (she was widowed early in life) with four more children that they would have together.  I always considered the older girls “real” cousins…one day one of them said to me “BUT I am not a real cousin.”  Maybe not to everyone…but to me they were “real.” One was four years and one was two years of age when their Mom married Uncle George…so he was the only father they ever knew and they called him Dad.  

Uncle Arnold was a farmer and a carpenter, he could build just about anything. He was a wonderful gentleman who always had a kind word or two.  He and his wife Sharon have five sons.  I know one reasonably well, the others I don’t know at all. They lived on the farm where my grandparents raised all their children, now their oldest son lives there.

This photo was taken in 1978.  Uncle George would die in 1997 from cancer at the age of 74.  Uncle Arnold would die in 1991 from a heart attack at the age of 59.  Both of their wives are still living. 

My grandparents raised a wonderful bunch of boys and girls.  They were all hard working law abiding, welcoming, kind, honest people.   There wasn’t one I didn’t like or admire for some quality.  Not a carouser in the bunch….although they could make lots of noise at a couple of Shivarees I attended when I was little.