Letter to the Editor

Cemetery education

Tuesday, April 27, 2004

Dear Editor,

My husband and I recently took on the job as caretakers of the Holbrook cemetery, and it's been a learning experience, to say the least!

It has taught us that we will never place a foot stone on a loved one's grave ... have above-ground corner markers, nor will we plant anything next to a headstone ... or between rows (they truly hamper the (already tedious) mowing process!

Though we don't have a degree in "leanology" ... our untrained eyes have observed that wherever there is a flower (mostly peonies), there is a lot of rubbish amongst each plant. There is a low spot, the soil is loose ... therefore ... a leaning tombstone!

In all reality, after the peonies are spent and mowed off in the fall, they should be raked to get rid of all the debris that's blown around them ... and the low spot filled with dirt to avoid having someone step in the low spots, falling and injuring themselves ... we're surprised that hasn't already happened.

One large tombstone was surrounded with what looked like tiger lilies ... we decided to weed whip the "jungle" ... and amongst the rubble was a small fallen tombstone that had been down for quite some time ... and had gouges indicating it had been scraped with a mower blade several times ... and yes! .. the large tombstone beside it was leaning in the direction of the "jungle"!

Many stones have vases that are meant to be turned upside-down when there are no flowers in them. they hadn't had their bottoms-up for so long, we had to dig dirt from the vase ... and the hole ... in order to place the vase in the hole. (Several stones had vases turned upside down that we didn't know were there until we dug through the dirt to find the base of the stone.)

Though I've been guilty of this myself, never again will I place rocks around a grave ... one such grave had plastic trim to hold the rocks in place, which I'm sure looked real nice when it was first done. When we arrived on the scene, the plastic trim had been pulled loose (more than likely caught by the mower ... (and it had to be a nuisance to mow around!) .. the rocks were helter-skelter and full of weeds, stickers, grass clippings, dirt, corn shucks etc. (No! we didn't leave it, nor are we going to apologize!)

Plastic and silk flower arrangements are nice ... they are pretty and last a long time ... but how long is "long enough"? We've pulled some out of the ground that were so old they disintegrated in our hands! ... and does the person mowing/wee whipping just work around these flowers ... or does he/she pull them out and replace them each mowing? People think: It's just one arrangement ... how much trouble can it be to pull up and put back?

(1.) The job doesn't pay all that well and (2.) I've never been good at math, but one times "X" number of stones equals time, minus money from the (fast-dwindling) cemetery fund. The flower arrangements that are placed directly on the tombstone are nice ... they must have been designed by a caretaker.

Incidentally, if you are missing a flower arrangement from a grave ... don't assume the caretaker has disposed of same ... we've picked up several strewn about the cemetery. (Seems the wind is always blowing out there!)

Speaking of which: the cemetery needs to be sprayed in an attempt to kill the numerous dandelions, stickers and weeds, but do we dare risk spraying and having it drift on the peonies and other flowers? It comes down to a choice: Do the citizens prefer a well-manicured cemetery ... or one spotted with desirable flowers (that are pretty two days out of 365) amongst the undesirable dandelions, etc?

In conclusion, we contend that every able-bodied citizen should be required to mow a cemetery one time during their 18th year of life so they'll be more knowledgeable as to what all is involved.

To our families, we say:

If you get the urge to plant a flower, a bush or a tree ...

To show you undying love .. in our memory ...

Put them in your garden ... at home ... where they belong ...

To clutter our resting place, to us, is so wrong ...

We (and the caretaker ) request (and we don't intend to be crass) ...

Let nature take over ... and cover us with a blanket of native grass!

Getting an on-the-job education.

"Cemeterians"

Lewis and Beverly Guthrie

Holbrook

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