Gravely Speaking

OLOF W. PALM

NOVEMBER 8, 1863

OCTOBER 28, 1939

CLARA LOUISA PALM

MARCH 29, 1861

SEPTEMBER 21, 1931

In 1928, the Georgia Marble Company of Tate, Georgia, produced a marketing piece in the form of a book titled, Memorials: To-Day for To-Morrow written by William Henry Deacy. The book was designed to showcase their memorial designs by highlighting them in the book with lush full-color watercolor illustrations of the various memorials. Along with the illustrations the book provided explanations of the symbolism found in the memorials. The book also coupled an architectural drawing of how the memorial is to be made.

The stele, a stone or wooden slab generally taller than it is wide and designed as a funeral commemorative, dates back many centuries and is one of the oldest gravestone forms.  Many examples of steles can be found in the National Archaeological Museum of Athens, Greece.

This example of a stele below was created for Daisios, son of Euthias on the east coast of Attica in Southern Greece.  The stele dates to the middle of the 4^th Century B.C. and has two rosettes on the shaft and is topped with an acroterion motif.

The example, however, found in the Wyuka Cemetery in Lincoln, Nebraska, marking the graves of Olof and Clara Palm varies.  Though it has notable features of a traditional stele gravestone—the marker is taller than it is wide and the acroterion motif tops the marker—it is markedly different.  Traditionally the face of the stone would be bare except for two rosettes.  In this case, the Palms commissioned the Kimball Brothers to create the morning figure of a woman holding a rose, the symbol of romantic love.  The figure was carved by noted Nebraska sculptor Fred L. Kimball.

The stele was an interesting choice for the Palms as the acroterion is a classical motif found in Roman and Greek architecture and has its origins in Egyptian art and architecture.  The acroterion is a stylized palm leaf.  Coincidence?

TO THE GREAT GLORY OF GOD

AND IN LOVING MEMORY OF A

TRUE DAUGHTER OF THE OLD NORTH STATE

QUIDA ESTELLE EMERY HOOD

BORN RALEIGH, N. C. SEPT. 19^TH 1883

DIED MONROE, MICH. FEB. 27^TH 1930.

A magnificent and wonderful woman of noble deeds

and high attainment, a devoted Christian, trusting

in God’s goodness and mercy, whose life was

dedicated to untiring service to humanity.

Her memory will endure as a priceless heritage.

Patient, cheerful and unselfish.  A faithful true

and admirable friend a loving companion.  A lover

of her country, courageous and unafraid; through

her did all my achievements some, to God owe all.

Placing my trust in God I wait, setting my face

to the dawn of that new day when the shadows

will lift and we shall be again united.

FRANKLIN S. PRIKRYL

Ouida Estelle Emery Hood’s grave marker is one of the most elaborate in the Oakwood Cemetery in Raliegh, North Carolina. Hood who was born in Raliegh, North Carolina made her home in Frenchtown, Michigan, where she became active in the Frenchtown community—the Frenchtown Grange #749, the Frenchtown Juvenile Grange #85, the Boys and Girls 4-H Clubs, and the Ladies Economic Club.  Though she and Wallace had no children of their own, Ouida hosted annual Christmas and Easter parties for the Frenchtown area.  Her Easter festivities included hiding up to 1,000 colored Easter eggs for the children to hunt—and each child went home with their own chocolate egg.  Her gardens were acclaimed and she was a beloved member of the community.

Hood was married to Wallace C. Hood an automobile designer.  The couple rented a room to Franklin Stanley Prikryl, a real estate developer.  One day Wallace left and never returned—a mystery that was never solved.

The monument that marks Hood’s grave was commissioned by Franklin Prikryl and manufactured in Germany for the princely sum of $40,000, which in today’s dollars would be over $640,000.  In addition to that, Prikryl had 50 wooden barrels of soil from Ouida’s flower gardens from Monroe County, Michigan, to cover the ground above Ouida’s casket.  Prikryl purchased a grave plot for himself next to Ouida and had his name carved on the monument but inextricably was buried in the Forest Lawn Cemetery in Glendale, California.

LESTER C. MADDEN

SEPT. 24, 1931—June 7, 1983

Yesterday, June 20^th, was the 49^th anniversary of the release of Steven Spielberg’s blockbuster movie Jaws.  That movie, based on the Peter Benchley novel of the same name, spawned three sequels and so many knock-offs that there is an entire week devoted to shark movies for fans’ viewing pleasure.  Movies that include the original movie and sequels as well as Sharknado, Shark Night, Raiders of the Lost Shark, and Two-Headed Shark Attack, among many others.

Jaws also spawned a huge fan—Lester C. Madden.  In fact, he loved the movie so much that his wish was to have a gravestone that paid tribute to the movie.  His gravestone, in the Allegheny Cemetery in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, is a black granite replica of the original shark on the Jaws movie poster—with the shark’s open mouth bearing its deadly teeth.

Now that is a true fan!

RACHEL BLYTHE

WIFE OF

A.G. BUAER

Jan. 9, 1897 – Aged 26 YEARS

“True worth is being, not seeming.”

The inscription underneath her Rachel Baur’s picture:

In thy dark eyes splendor

Where the warm light loves to dwell

Weary looks yet tender

Speak their last farewell

There is an unusual cradle grave marker in the Oakwood Cemetery in Raleigh, North Carolina.  Cradle grave markers are so named because they resemble a cradle.  They consist of a footstone and headstone connected by two low stone walls forming a rectangle, the interior of which is used for plantings. The grave marker of Rachel Blythe Bauer is unusual in that the headstone is made of brick and forms a foundation that is topped by a small replica of a building that was designed to resemble the Temple of Diana in Ephesus.  Between two columns is a portrait of Mrs. Rachel Bauer.

Rachel Blythe and Adolphus Gustavus Bauer’s love story was uncertain from the start.  They were in love but because Rachel was from a prominent Cherokee family it was illegal in North Carolina at that time for Native Americans to marry outside their race.  However, the couple had been advised if they were married outside of their state, the marriage would be accepted and legal upon their return.  They were married in secret on November 15, 1894. They were married again in Washington D.C. on June 18, 1895.  However, the North Carolina Supreme Court ruled in June of that year, that the marriage was invalid, and the couple would be liable for prosecution if they returned to the state.  The McCook Tribune of Nebraska, June 28, 1895 edition reported that “in the event they attempt to live in North Carolina it is reasonably certain they will have trouble.”  However, the couple did return and no charges were brought forth. Rachel gave birth to their daughter, Owenah, in October of 1895. 

Adolphus flourished as an architect until tragedy struck on May 2, 1896, when the buggy he was riding in was struck by a train.  He suffered major injuries including dizzy spells, delusions, and depression.  He continued to work, however.  In December of 1896, Rachel gave birth. Shortly, after their son, Fred, was born tragedy struck again.  Rachel died on January 9, 1897, most likely from complications of dysentery.

Adolphus designed Rachel grave marker for his beloved wife.  The North Carolina legislature passed a bill validating the marriage of the couple.  It was announced in The North Carolinian on Thursday, March 11, 1897.  On May 11, 1898, Adolphus committed suicide.  He was found holding a photograph of Rachel.  The note he left behind requested that he be buried “buried by the side of my wife, in Raleigh, N.C., where I have so long sojourned and among the Southern people I have liked so well.”

Etta Rebecca White Ratcliff

October 24, 1880

May 28, 1918

Etta Ratcliff is buried next to one of the broad avenues in the Oakwood Cemetery in Raleigh, North Carolina.  Her gravestone features a carved angel—not unusual except the face of the angel is modeled after Etta herself. 

Etta was a mother of five and wife to William Emmet Ratcliff.  Ratcliff was a successful knitting factory owner.  Etta was a very young 37 years old when she died of a cerebral hemorrhage.  After her death, Ratcliff ordered a statue to be carved in her likeness. 

The statue, made of marble was carved in Italy.  During the shipment to America, the ship carrying the angel sank with Etta’s statue sinking with it.  Later it was recovered and placed where it now stands in the cemetery.

Maybe because of Etta’s angelic appearance and the resurrection of the statue itself from the bottom of the Atlantic, stories popped up with people claiming that as they walk past the angel, not only Etta’s eyes follow them, but some say her head moves following them.  Upon closer inspection of the statue, the neck has a crack, which some say is the reason the angel’s head can move about. There are claims that she has also been known to flutter her wings!

According to a WTVD broadcast, which aired Tuesday July 30, 2019, Oakwood Cemetery Executive Director Robin Simonton responded to the claims, “It’s … a little unsettling for us in a cemetery to see a statue that looks like a person.  It lends itself to urban legend.”

Urban legend or not, Etta’s angel watches over the passersby.

The Oakwood Cemetery in Raleigh, North Carolina has a large section dedicated to Confederate soldiers who died in the war and those soldiers who served and survived and wished to buried there after the war.  The white marble gravestones are marked with birth and death dates of the fallen soldiers, with most of the dates from the war years to the late 19^th century.  However, there is a commemorative marker that was placed early this century, and it was for the last crew members on the CSS H.L. Hunley.

The CSS H. L. Hunley, named for its creator Horace Lawson Hunley, was an experimental warcraft, the first of its kind in naval history—a submarine that successfully sank another ship, the USS Housatonic, in combat.  The Hunley did not do this on its first try, however.  In fact, the Hunley, also nicknamed the “porpoise” and “the fish boat” sank twice before—on its maiden run August 29, 1863 killing its first crew of five members and later on October 15, 1863 killing all eight on board.  Hunley himself was drowned on that voyage.  The Hunley was raised both times and returned to battle.

The placard placed on the commemorative markers reads:

“On February 17^th, 1864 the CSS H.L Hunley was the first submarine to sink an enemy ship in combat.  He sub was lost that night as well, when it sank just outside Charleston Harbour in SC. With all eight crewmembers perishing.  Crew Member James A Wicks was from North Carolina.  Whereas it played a small role in Civil War history it played a major role in American naval history.  The Confederate States of America submarine’s brave crew is listed below.  Buried beneath this marker are partial sedimentary remains of those brave naval men taken from the sub when it was raised from the floor of the ocean on August 8^th, 2000.

Lieutenant George E. Dixon, Commander

Arnold Becker

Corporal J. F. Carlsen

C. Lumpkin Miller

James A. Wicks

Joseph Ridgeway”

It is believed that when the crew fired its torpedo and hit the USS Housatonic, the impact of the explosion also sank the Hunley. The Hunley and its crew members were lost that night, until in 1995, the Hunley was found and raised for one last time. The Hunley is now on display at the Warren Lasch Conservation Center in North Charleston, South Carolina.

FRANCIS SCOTT KEY

FITZGERALD

SEPTEMBER 24, 1896

DECEMBER 21, 1940

HIS WIFE

ZELDA SAYRE

JULY 24, 1900

MARCH 10, 1948

“SO WE BEAT ON, BOATS AGAINST

THE CURRENT, BORNE BACK

CEASESSLY IN THE PAST.”

–The Great Gatsby

F. Scott Fitzgerald and his wife, Zelda are buried in the Fitzgerald Family plot in St. Mary’s Churchyard Cemetery in Rockville, Maryland.  When F. Scott died in 1940, the church officials denied him the right as a lapsed Catholic to be buried in the churchyard, so he was buried in the Rockville Cemetery down the road. When Zelda died, F. Scott and Zelda were buried in the churchyard after the church officials had rethought their position.

The afternoon I was the there the sun was setting behind the gravestone, which was littered with votive candles, booze bottles—empty and full—trinkets, toys, journals, pens, and pencils.  And tucked in with the memorabilia strewn on top of the grave ledger, was a note, a moving tribute to F. Scott and Zelda:

“In high school.  He is no longer here plagued by loss and depression and leaving this earth at age 39.  I was 15 when I first read Gatsby, and it made me think and feel in similes and metaphors that I‘d never before considered.  My mentor…encouraged me to write and to study literature in college and I did. 

Tragedy struck me when I was 22, and I was unable to truly process or write for many years. I found it too difficult to feel.  But still, in the quiet moments I found myself reaching for the books and authors who made me, me.

I’m 32 now and some things have changed, and yet others have not.  Perhaps I’m not the author I’d dreamed of being, but I’ve endured.  I’d like to hope that one day, I’ll write the book I’ve been wanting to.  You were both writing at my age, and I am amazed by your words.

It is with love that I say that I’m so sorry that your lives didn’t treat you fondly at times and that you didn’t live as long as you should have.  The world is cruel at times, and it seemed to favor despair with you both.

Please know that your impact is perhaps bigger now than ever and that you have not been forgotten, you, and Ernest, and Gertrude, and all the rest. 

Words can last forever and stand the test of time, and I thank you profoundly for yours.

Love always,

…”

The note is a more moving memorial to the Fitzgeralds that a gravestone could ever be.

Most cemeteries, especially historic cemeteries that no longer have room for new burials, rely on volunteers for the upkeep. In the historic Easton Cemetery in Easton, Pennsylvania, volunteers create gardens in cradle graves!

There are many superstitions that surround the supernatural and consequently burial practices, many of which have been long forgotten.

For instance, the doors to mausoleums are often imbued with symbolism.  In fact, the door itself represents a portal.  Portals come in many forms—a door, a gate, a window, even your eyes and your mouth are considered portals.  Many superstitions about death concern portals, many of which come from the Victorian Age.

The eyes, for instance, are considered the windows to the soul. Victorians believed the eyes were powerful, almost magical, even in death. When a person died therefore, the body had to be removed from the home feet first (most people died at home in the 19^th Century). In that way, the eyes of the deceased could not look back and lure a live person to follow the dead through the passageway to death.

The Victorians also believed that as you passed by a cemetery that you needed to hold your breath. The fear was that if one opened one’s mouth, that a spirit from the dead residing in the cemetery would enter your body through the portal—the open mouth.

Another superstition had to do with the mirrors in the home. After a death, the family very quickly covered the mirrors. It was believed that mirrors were false portals in a sense. The Victorians believed that the spirit of the dead could enter a mirror and become trapped in the mirror. If the spirit did so, it would not be able to complete its trip through the passageway from the Earthly realm to the Heavenly realm, or in some cases, to warmer climes.

The door as a motif in funerary art symbolizes mystery.  The door is the portal from the Earthly realm to the next. In Christianity, the door is usually viewed with hope, charity, and faith.  The next life in the hereafter will be better than the one experienced here on Earth.

Even the iron gates and fencing around the cemetery were imbued with a power—the power to keep the malevolent spirits such as ghosts, fairies, and witches at bay.  It was thought that iron had a supernatural power.  Hence a horseshoe nailed to a door was thought to be a talisman protecting those inside and repelling evil spirits.  Burying an iron knife in front of the threshold to your home was believed to ward off witches from coming in.  And the iron fencing around a cemetery was believed to contain the souls of the dead.  The magical powers of the gate and fencing are also found surrounding family plots.  It was thought that once the gate was closed the spirits could not follow you home!  Keep those gates closed!

THE TWELVE GATES WERE TWELVE PEARLS, REV. 21:21

“TO-DAY SHALT THOU BE WITH ME IN PARADISE.” LUKE 23:43

FRANK HAMILTON, 1853 – 1947, RESTING

CARRIE HAMILTON, 1852 – 1908, RESTING

ELBERTINE R. HAMILTON, 1862 – 1958, DEVOTED DISCIPLE

Two monuments, one in the Rock Creek Cemetery at Washington D.C. and the other in Cave Hill Cemetery at Louisville, Kentucky, depict an opening or gateway with a rock rolled away from the opening.

The Hamilton Tomb has two Bible verses carved into the face of it that indicate that the opening of that monument is meant to portray Jesus’s entry into Heaven, “To-day shalt thou be with me in paradise.” The second Bible verse, Revelation 21:21, goes on to describe the destination, “And the twelve gates were twelve pearls; every several gate was one pearl; and the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass.”

The second monument, that of Zachariah Madison Sherley, a prominent riverboat fleet owner and pilot and his wife Susan Wallace Cromwell Sherley, also depicts a rock next to an entryway. This one, too, depicts the Resurrection of Jesus.

Many places in the Bible describe the Holy event, as does John 20:1 – 2, “The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulcher, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulcher. 2. Then she runneth and cometh Simon Peter, and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, and saith unto them. They have taken away the Lord out of the sepulcher, and we know not where they have laid him.”

SHERLEY

Z. M. SHERLEY, 1811 – 1879

SUSAN W. CROMWELL, HIS WIFE, 1831 – 1928

However, the Bork Family monument in St. Joseph’s Cemetery in Tiffin, Ohio, depicts Jesus’s ascension to Heaven. Here Jesus leaves the Earthly realm for the Heavenly realm—this is the Resurrection of Christ.