Gravely Speaking

The white marble tombstone in the Holy Cross Catholic Cemetery in Colma, California, is topped with a botonee or budded cross—that is, each arm terminates in three knobs or lobes often associated with the Holy Trinity.  The gravestone also features a mourning figure in the round inset at the top of the marker.  These images were common on many late-nineteenth century gravestones. The mourning figures are nearly always beautiful, young women overcome by grief, limp from sorrow. Here the kneeling mourning figure, her head lowered and resigned with loss, accepts the reality of death as she leans against a cross-topped marker. 

ERECTED BY MICHAEL IN
MEMORY OF HIS BELOVED WIFE
HONORA ANNA GABRIELLE McCLURE
BORN IN VIRGINIA CITY, NEV.
MAY 30, 1877.
DIED AUG. 12, 1904.
MAY GOD HAVE MERCY ON HER SOUL.

The white marble monument for Honora McClure in the Holy Cross Catholic Cemetery in Colma, California, is replete with symbolism.  The column is topped with a billowing flame which is a funerary symbol of the eternal soul and the divine light guiding the departed to its next life.

At the base of the column is a winged orb often portrayed as an Egyptian motif representing the sun god Ra.  It was usually placed over the entrance to a temple to ward off evil spirits as seen in the Whittell Mausoleum in the Cypress Lawn Cemetery also in Colma. 

However, this winged orb is at the base of the monument, not over an entrance and does not resemble the Egyptian motif.  Here the symbolism likely represents the soul’s flight from its mortal coil.

JOSEPH

HIRSCHBACH

A NATIVE OF

MANHEIM.

DIED

APRIL 29, 1897.

AGED 35 YEARS.

The pointed white marble tablet of Joseph Hirschbach in the Home of Peace Cemetery and Emanu-El Mausoleum in Colma, California displays a violin in the arch of the gravestone. 

A musical note vanishes as soon as it is played, lasting but a moment; because of that the violin symbolizes the fleeting nature of life.  If the violin has a broken string, it is another symbol of the fragility of life itself and a reminder of how little time there is on Earth—a memento mori symbol.

It is also likely to represent the profession as a musician or the deceased’s love of music.

IN MEMORIAM

MARGARET McK. MUNHALL

MARCH 8, 1925

JOHN MUNHALL

1833 – 1904

HETTY MUNHALL

1837 – 1875

“BLESSED ARE THE PURE IN HEART”

The massive rock face gray granite Munhall Family monument in the Allegheny Cemetery in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, features a seated angel framed by a rounded arch supported with two composite columns.  The classically draped angle holds a palm leaf and a floral wreath.

The palm frond is an ancient symbol of victory, dating back to Roman times when victors were presented with palm fronds. The palm fronds were also laid in the path of Jesus as He entered Jerusalem. So, for many Christians, the palm represents righteousness, resurrection, and martyrdom, symbolizing the spiritual victory over death associated with the Easter story.

The floral wreath. This is a common Victorian funerary symbol expressing the transitory nature of life.  In this example, the flowers in the wreath are roses and can symbolize love and beauty or the messianic hope that Christ will return.

The composite capitals on the columns feature poppies.  In cemetery symbolism the poppy represents eternal sleep.  Just as it was portrayed in the movie, The Wizard of Oz, the main characters lie down in a field of poppies where they fall into a deep sleep.  That same imagery is used here.  The angel sits in front of a portal suggesting the entryway to Heaven and eternal sleep. 

Edwin William MacAllister

December 8, 1895 – January 7, 1977

Hilda Lydia Elsie Yakle MacAllister

March 17, 1897 – June 1992

There is an old saying that a man’s home is his castle which has its origins in English law first expressed in 1644, by English judge Sir Edward Coke.  Coke was quoted as saying, “For a man’s house is his castle”.
 

That sentiment is found in Book 4, Chapter 16 of Blackstone’s Commentaries on the Laws of England, “And the law of England has so particular and tender a regard to the immunity of a man’s house, that it stiles it his castle, and will never suffer it to be violated with immunity: agreeing herein with the sentiments of ancient Rome, as expressed in the works of Tully; quid enim sanctius, quid omni religione munitius, quam domus unusquisque civium?” Loosely translated: “For what is more holy, what is more fortified against all religion, than the house of every citizen?“

In the case of the McAllister Mausoleum in Crown Hill Cemetery in Indianapolis, Indiana, a man’s mausoleum is his castle—literally—complete with castellated tower and battlements and a drawbridge!

ALBERT J. BEVERIDGE

1862 — 1927

CATHERINE BEVERIDGE

1881 — 1970

ALBERT J. BEVERIDGE JR

1908 — 1965

In 1942, Catherine Beveridge, second wife of Albert Jeremiah Beveridge, commissioned famed sculptor John Clements Gregory (1879 – 1958) to create a funerary sculpture to represent four stages of Beveridge’s life. Gregory sculpted a towering white marble monument with four classical figures to represent Beveridge as a Student, Lawyer, Senator, and Historian.

Beveridge received his law degree from Indiana Asbury University (now DePauw University) and practiced law in Indianapolis until he was appointed in 1899 to the United States Senate where he advocated for progressive policies such as child labor legislation and the Federal Meat Inspection Act of 1906.  After he lost his Senate seat in 1910, he wrote a Pulitzer Prize winning biography of Chief Justice John Marshall. 

Each of four stages of his life is commemorated in a relief panel which sits on a hilltop in the Crown Hill Cemetery in Indianapolis.

KERRY SHANE SHECKLES

Born September 11, 1973, Winchester, Indiana  

Died February 4, 2005, Avon, Indiana

Palmer’s Prairie Church of Christ in rural Sullivan County, Indiana, is no longer, but the church graveyard is, a testament to the congregation that once worshipped there.  Several hundred tombstones mark the graves of former congregants, but one stands out above all the others, the unusual and unique gravestone of Kerry Shane Sheckles dubbed the “Candy Kid” by his Grandparents.

Sheckles’s gravestone, which stands over five feet tall and as wide reproduces the Monopoly gameboard, a best-selling game familiar to nearly all Americans since it was first introduced by Parker Brothers in 1935.  But instead of the traditional spaces marked by street names such as Boardwalk and Park Place, the spaces are marked with events straight out of Sheckles’s life, such as his attendance at Fairbanks Elementary or Fulton Junior High or Ben Davis High School.  The railroad spots on a traditional board are replaced by modes of transportation from his life, including a Muncie Bike, a red Hyundai Excel, or the Mack Trucks which he sold. According to Find a Grave, Sheckles was an avid and champion Monopoly player, and his gravestone is a tribute to his devotion and love of the game.

What is apparent is that he was a person adored by his family.  He is survived by his wife, Jennifer, his daughters Karley and Riley, and numerous other relatives.  What also survives is his outrageous humor and sense of fun for which is Sheckles is lovingly remembered. His gravestone is going to make all that see it smile, even if they didn’t know him, but wish we could have.

The unicorn, carved into a gravestone in the Clear Creek Cemetery in rural Indiana, represents purity, steadfastness, and the incarnation and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  In Medieval times unicorns were depicted as protectors of divine sacrifice.

C. PENN WETTLAUFER

OCT. 9, 1935

JAN. 11, 2000

AGE QUOD AGIS

Conrad Penn Wettlaufer was a native son of Buffalo.  He hailed from a proud lineage descended from a signer of the Declaration of Independence and of William Penn, the namesake of the State of Pennsylvania.  According to his obituary, Wettlaufer was a “well-known local businessman, economic-development consultant, professor, and a member of a prominent Buffalo family.  He was also a “certified emergency medical services provider and an instructor in paramedic for many years.”

Wettlaufer’s light gray unpolished granite serpentine topped gravestone in the Forest Lawn Cemetery in Buffalo, New York, features a bas-relief sculpture of a lone standing buffalo.  The only mention I can find in connection with funerary symbolism regarding a buffalo is found in the International Journal of Religion, 5(8), 179-190, where the indigenous Toraja people of Indonesia consider the buffalo as a marker of a person’s nobility or social status determined by how many buffalo are sacrificed at a person’s funeral.  It is doubtful that there is any connection between Mr. Wettlaufer and the indigenous people of Indonesia.  More likely the sculpture reflects his deep involvement in his community and his pride in his birthplace.

His obituary also mentions that Wettlaufer was a ferocious squash player.  So much, so, in fact, his fellow competitors referred to him as “The Czar.”  His epitaph, “Age Quod Agis” which roughly translates to “do what you are doing, concentrate on the task at hand, most likely refers to not only his intense focus on his community, but his fierce play on the squash court!

JOHN F. GROW

NOV. 10, 1873—Oct. 2. 1923

IDA, HIS WIFE

JUNE 19, 1880—SEPT. 11, 1962

The John and Ida Grow open book tombstone can be found in the Beech Grove Cemetery, in Bedford, Indiana. The open book is a common symbol found on gravestones. The motif can represent the Word of God in the form of the Bible or, likely in this case, symbolize the Book of Life with the names of the just registered.

This small tree-stump tombstone of 33-year-old Melia Baxter Roberts in the Knightsbridge Cemetery in rural Bloomington, Indiana, represents a tree not fully grown in width or height.  This tree-stump tombstone is a metaphor in limestone, representing a life that has been cut short. 

In both tombstones, three fern fronds are twinning up the front of their gravestones.  Numbers are significant in the Bible and the number “three” may represent the Trinity—the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. 

The fern itself is a plant that thrives in shade underneath trees and wooded areas.  The ferns in both cases are secondary to the main gravestone symbolism—the open book and the tree-stump.  The fern, often not first noticed in nature, represents humility, solitude, and sincerity.

MELIA BAXTER ROBERTS

1895—1928