EVA MAUD

Dau. of

N. D. & E. H. BARNES.

BORN Aug. 12, 1878.

DIED Sept. 7, 1898.

You are not dead to us,

But as a bright star unseen.

We hold that you are ever near,

Though death intrudes between.

In the small country Ellison Cemetery in rural Harrison County, Iowa, is the gray marble gravestone of Eva Maud Barnes, who died just after her 20^th birthday. 

Her epitaph describes Eva as a “bright unseen star.”  That star is repeated as a symbol on the gravestone just above the barely visible incised design of open gates. An angel can also be seen reaching upward toward the Heavens between the open gates. 

The gates here represent a passageway from one realm to the next.  The gates are the portal for saved souls to make their passage from the Earthly realm to the Heavenly realm upon Christ’s return.

The drapery on top of the gravestone represents a shroud symbolizing death and sorrow. The drapery can also be a motif that again represents the veil that separates the Earth and Heaven.  

The last line of the epitaph has two words that are a constant fear for all—”death intrudes.”