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Times Change and So Does Cemetery Art

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 21:39:46 -0500

Over time, practically everything changes. Fashions, art, and even cemetery memorials. In reviewing cemetery news achives, CMS' webmaster discovered an article that appeared in The New York Times on April 9, 1910 that outlined a cemetery's reasons for removing a memorial.

The Brooklyn cemetery removed a monument of Cupid and Psyche placed on the grave of a young woman after numerous complaints were received by the cemetery's board of trustees.

The marble statue was considered inappropriate for a cemetery even though it was the final wish of the deceased woman to have her treasured statue placed on her grave.

The trustees' contracts with the lot owners stipulated that they reserved the right to approve the grave markers and monuments.

Today, families are virtually unlimited with their choice of memorialization -- providing that it is not offensive. Biblical images and nature scenes can be etched in full color in granite and marble stone. Practically any shape can be carved. In bronze, detailed murals can be cast on the memorials.

See Hollywood's New Billboard

Wed, 03 Mar 2010 21:22:21 -0500

For Family. For Country. Receive a U.S. Savings Bond from Hollywood Memorial Park... is the new billboard that Hollywood has had erected on Route 22 in Union, New Jersey.

See the Boneyard

Fri, 26 Feb 2010 09:38:08 -0500

Here's a satellite view of The Boneyard from Google Earth http://www.worldrecordsacademy.org/biggest/img/101577-the_boneyard-tucson-1.jpg

Heard About the Boneyard?

Fri, 26 Feb 2010 09:34:06 -0500

It spreads across 2,600 acres -- four square miles.

It is the site of more than 4,200 retired aircraft worth $35 billion.

It is located in Tucson, Arizona on the Davis-Monthan Air Force Base.

It sets the world record for the "largest military aircraft cemetery."

It is the 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group facility also known as The Boneyard.

"The Boneyard" came into existance after World War II to house retired aircraft. The site was chosen for its high altitude and dry conditions -- which meant that the planes would deterioriate more slowly.

Among the many planes retired at the site are B-52 bombers, F-14 fighter planes.

Many of the planes stored at the site are vacuum packed with the intent that they can someday be restored or sold to other countires.

To see satellite views of the Boneyard, go to Google Earth.

African Burial Ground Visitors Center To Open

Fri, 26 Feb 2010 09:21:53 -0500

On Saturday, February 27, the African Burial Ground Visitors Center will open in Lower Manhattan. It is located near the site where a 200-year-old cemetery was unearthed in 1991 when crews were preparing ground for a General Services Administration Building. It was soon discovered that these were bodies of black New Yorkers interred in what a 1755 map calls the “Negros Burial Ground.”

It is documented that 419 bodies were unearthed but it is believed that there may be 10,000 to 20,000 bodies still buried there.

The federal building now sits on a portion of the burial site and the remaining area iis a burial site and memorial. The visitor center is located inside the federal building and is intended to explain the site’s significance.

The African Burial Ground Visitor Center is located in the Ted Weiss Federal Building, 290 Broadway, at Duane Street, Lower Manhattan.

The Day the Navy's Music Died

Fri, 26 Feb 2010 08:40:11 -0500

On February 25, 1960, a U.S. Navy plane carrying 19 members of the Navy's band collided with a Brazilian jet over Rio de Janiero killing all 19 of the musicians. All of the talented musicians, who formed the orchestra, were stationed at the U.S. Naval Weapons plant in Washington, D.C. They were to perform at a dinner that President Eisenhower was giving for the Brazilian president.

On February 25, 2010, 50 years after the tragic crash, members of the musicians' families gathered at Arlington National Cemetery to pay tribute the band members at a ceremony where the Navy band performed.

Fourteen of the crash victims are buried in two rows of graves in the order they would be playing in the orchestra -- violins, clarinets, French horms, trumpets in formation.

To read about the crash, visit http://www.navyband.navy.mil/pdfs/washpostart.pdf

Lassie Rests in Peace With Trainer

Thu, 25 Feb 2010 20:46:38 -0500

Rudd Weatherwax loved the dogs he trained. A trainer and breeder, Mr. Weatherwax trained many of the collies that portrayed Lassie in the movies and on the popular television series that aired from 1954-1974. When each of his beloved dogs who portrayed Lassie passed away, Mr. Weatherwax had their bodies cremated. When the skilled trainer passed away on February 25, 1985 at the age of 77, the cremated remains of each of the Lassies lined his casket so he could spend eternity with the beloved dogs.

Runway Gets the Red Light

Mon, 22 Feb 2010 19:59:29 -0500

WBBM 780 reported that an appellate court in Illinois ordered the City of Chicago to stop exhuming bodies from St. Johannes Cemetery, which is to be the site of a new runway at O"hare International Airport.

Families argue that a cemetery is sacred ground and that the land in question should remain part of St. John's United Church of Christ.

The City of Chicago is trying to relocate the bodies to make way for a new runway at the aiport.

Nearly 1,200 bodies are buried in the cemtery

Cemeteries Should Be Sites of Peace and Inspiration

Sun, 21 Feb 2010 15:39:06 -0500

A cemetery is a sacred place that should provide visitors with a place that they can find peace and consolation when they visit the graves of loved ones. Across the country, there are old, abandoned cemeteries that are becoming overgrown and "lost."

Friends of Rural Cemeteries, a non-profit organization established by the Stoecklein family a decade ago, helps these cemeteries which are in need of some tender loving care.

To learn more about Friends of Rural Cemeteries, visit http://www.friendsofruralcemeteries.org/index.php?s=support

Together Forever

Sun, 21 Feb 2010 15:26:24 -0500

Blackamericaweb.com reports that a North Carolina couple has set the record for the longest marriage -- 84 years. According to the website's story, friends of Herbert and Zelmyra Fisher say they have been "an example for a lifetime."

“If there was ever love, it’s between my parents,” said Norma Godette, one of the Fisher’s five children. “By example, they have taught us how to treat others as we would like to be treated and to live our lives according to the Ten Commandments,” Godette told BlackAmericaweb.com. “They taught us to love and respect everyone.”

The entire article can be read at: http://www.blackamericaweb.com/?q=articles/news/the_state_of_black_america_news/6832

Couples such as the Fishers are an excellent example of why it's important to prearrange. While the article doesn't indicate if they have or have not prearranged for their burial, had they prarranged in when they were in their 40s some 60 years ago, they would have purchased their graves based on 1950's prices -- and they would have been able to make the decision to gether. If they did not prearrange, and purchase their graves at the time of immediate need, they will be making their purchase based on 2010 pricing and one spouse will be making the decision alone.

Have you prearranged?

Distracted Drivers Sending Motorists to the Cemetery

Mon, 15 Feb 2010 18:31:09 -0500

Iowa's Daily Freeman-Journal concluded a story with the sentence, "...it takes more than 2,000 bolts to assemble an automobile and only one nut to scatter them all over the road." That statement was used to emphasize the fact that distracted drivers are causing fatal automobile accidents all across the country.

According to the story, "The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reports that 80 percent of all crashes and 65 percent of near crashes involve some type of distraction. In 2008, the NHTSA reports, nearly 6,000 people died in crashes involving a distracted or inattentive driver and more than a half million were injured."

On every show Oprah reminds every viewers not to text while driving.

By nature, everyone is destined to spend eternity in a cemetery or at a site where they specify they want their cremated remains to be placed. However, no one should go before their time. Be sure to avoid unnecessary distractions when driving.

Snow Keeps Loved Ones From Cemetery

Sun, 14 Feb 2010 13:52:55 -0500

The week leading up to Valentine's Day has been difficult for Sue and Scott McKenna* since 2002. That's when this Pennsylvania couple's lived turned upside down with the sudden loss of their daughter. Megan was only 23 when her car slid on a patch of ice sending her small Honda across three lanes of heavy traffic. The kindergarten teacher was killed instantly. The visitation at the local funeral home and Catholic funeral that followed were extremely sad for the family and the entire community, which lost a rising star.

This winter, some eight years later, Megan's parents' grief was intensified by a snowstorm that blanketed the cemetery where they go to honor her memory.

"Even though the roads were cleared, we couldn't get up the hill to touch her headstone," said Sue. "Just being able to touch that peice of granite, gives Scott and me a sense of comfort. We are looking forward to when the snow melts so we can go and put a fresh wreath of flowers on her headstone."

* The family names were changed to protect their privacy.

What Is Green Burial

Sun, 14 Feb 2010 13:42:04 -0500

An increasing number of baby boomers are selecting green burial. But, what is a true green burial?

According to an article in the Star-Ledger, green burial includes:

• Bans on chemical embalming, to leave the body in a natural state

• Prohibiting caskets of metal or rare woods in favor of those constructed of more easily reproduceable woods or wicker that decompose relatively quickly; or burying bodies in just a shroud.

• Forbidding tall, cut headstones, which require costly fueled transport, in favor of smaller markers.

• Banning herbicides and pesticides for lawn care; and banning mowers, to save fuel.

• Banning concrete vaults to contain caskets.

For more information, visit:

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2010/02/for_bergen_county_man_eco-fune.html

Eco Funerals in NJ

Sun, 14 Feb 2010 13:36:57 -0500

On Feb. 13, the Star-Ledger reported that the number of green funerals are increasing in New Jersey.

Mayrest Cemetery, a Catholic cemetery in Mahwah, is one of the country’s first Catholic cemeteries with an environmentally sensitive section.

According to the Star-Ledger article, "at Maryrest, which is run by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Newark, only certain types of caskets, embalming and grave markers are permitted in the new eco-section, the goal being to limit environmental damage."

Haitians Denied Proper Funerals

Wed, 10 Feb 2010 12:15:18 -0500

In Haiti, funerals were elaborate events. Even people who passed away from lack of adquate medical care received lavish funerals. A proper Haitian funeral included a march to the church, a Mass or other ceremony, a trip to a proper cemetery, followed by coffee and food to the attendees

That's not the case now in the aftermath of the devastating earthquake that rocked the country in January.

According to an article in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Haitians are deeply disturbed by the lack of ceremonial burial. For the past month, they have been removing bodies from beneath concrete walls and roofs, piling them into trucks, and burying them in pits on the outskirts of town.