Honoring the legacies left behind
A life, whether long and well-lived or short in duration, full of promise or lacking in fulfillment, is still a life. That person meant something to someone.
That’s my take on the common ground we share when life finally ends, and we spend eternity beneath the sod.
And yet, who that person is can be lost for a number of reasons. For some, this is due to not making final arrangements — “I’ll leave that to my kids to handle” — or not writing their own obituary. Who tells the story better than the person who lived it?
A cemetery is a place where answers to who someone was can be found on the markers. In walking through an older section of a local cemetery I’m often asking the questions of those who lie in repose “What did you do?” Or, “What impact did you have?”
At least an observance of a life, a marker with the biographical information between the dates will tell us so much. Preservation of those places is paramount. History is lost without our constant vigilance.
History vanishes when small, remote, often neglected cemeteries are lost to time and lack of funding. Our “older folks,” to whom we turned for answers are now gone, and it is incumbent on us to remember the legacy they left behind.
Cemeteries, in my opinion, are worthy of our time and effort. Those beneath the sod are often the reason we have communities, churches, schools, government, social networks, and a lifestyle we have become accustomed to.
Many did without modernday conveniences, all while raising families, and being members of the PTA or volunteer fire department.
But having spent considerable time in cemeteries and seeing headstones inscribed just “Mother” or “Our Dad” without any further information leaves more questions than answers. Wooden markers are lost to the ravages of time or fire. Stone markers due to vandals or covered by debris.
But they provide a link to written records that can provide more information. All the more reason for obituaries to be written by the living, before they are dead. Annually, former E-R reporter Laura Urseny encouraged us to do that, when visiting with family at a holiday, to sit down and “write the obituary for yourself.”
History has often treated women with newsprint announcements such as: “Born, to the wife of John Smith, a son.” She did the work, why no name given? Or, “Died, the wife of Sam Jones, mother of six,” Ditto. Who washed the clothes, bore the children? Where is her name?
Today we have to ask, who wrote her obituary?
“Old” or “the past” is not something to fear, worry about, or avoid, but rather something to embrace, delight in, and accept as history is ever changing, but repeats itself with regularity.
In our hearts, we’re fascinated by it. “Upstairs, Downstairs” or the most recent incarnation of “The Gilded Age” has us talking about what happened, or what may be expected next.
Why are OLLI history lectures well attended? What caused the surge in the number of people who want to know more and regularly set their DVR for “Finding Your Roots?” Why are old newsreels reconfigured for modern-day historical perspective, and Archival History classes at CSU, Chico something to sign up for? Why does Tony Bennett’s voice paired with that of Lady Gaga bring smiles?
Locally, we lovers of history have been blessed with
Jim Lenhoff and Lois McDonald, Larry Richardson, and
John Nopel. Newsprint via Dan Barnett and the weekly Bibliophile have given us Martha Myers Wilhite, David Brown and Dick Cory; NSPR’s Nancy Wiegman has introduced us to Ron Womack, Josie Smith and Mike Boggs via interviews … and the list continues with long sought out pieces by Ellena, Talbitzer, Danforth, Mansfield … all with one goal: share the history of where we call home.
Personally, I wish I could ask more questions of the “older” members of the community, and when hit with the reality of my own mirror, realize that I am now that old person. Sharing knowledge, imparting wisdom is the province of the older among us.
But finally, save and protect the last place to look: a cemetery.