In loving remembrance

of

MARY E.

Wife of

John P. Eimer,

Born Aug. 12, 1855,

Died Sept. 28, 1888

Tis hard to break the tender cord

When love has bound the heart

Tis hard, so hard, to speak the words

Must we forever part.

The white marble obelisk resting on a plinth and base, marks the grave of Mary Eimer, a young wife of 33 years old.  Carved on the sides of the gravestone are the names of the two sons, Georgie and Freddie, she lost before she herself died.  A single symbol of a hand holding a calla lily adorns the obelisk.

The calla lily is a stunner with its long slender stem, brilliant white flowers, and broad leaves.  Though it is called a lily it is actually not in the flower family liliacea.  The South African native is actually a cousin to the jack-in-the pulpit and is in the family of araceae. In Africaans the calla lily is called the Varkoor, or pig’s ear, because that is what they believed it resembled. The calla lily was imported out of South Africa in the later part of the nineteenth and early twentieth century.  It almost immediately became associated with Easter and is sometimes referred to as an Easter lily.

The calla lily represents majestic beauty and purity and is often used on gravestones to symbolize marriage.  In some cases, the calla lily can also represent the resurrection.