Albert Weideman

In late May 1927 young Albert was one of 32 boys who took swimming lessons at a local YMCA.

Six years later on May 29, 1933 he is out with a group of boys playing at what was called May's Lake, just a short distance from Parkrose Highschool where he was a Junior. The boys were having fun playing with a raft in the water. Who knows, maybe they had read about the adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer and wanted to build a raft? During playing with the raft they thought it would be fun to try and overturn it. In their attempt to overturn the raft Albert got hit in the head by a piece of wood that knocked him out. He sank in to deep water and drowned. He left his parents Otto and Emma and a younger brother Richard. Albert is our latest addition to the Garden of Untimely Demise.

Sleep Soundly Silent Snow

A late winter storm brought a coating of snow to the area yesterday. For a few hours, the cemetery was covered with the quilt of winter.

Mary's Tree

We were looking for the markers of several Morningside Patients recently. We found only one.
One patient from Alaska is Mary Link. She was about 41 years old when she left this life on September 19, 1921 at Morningside. There is no marker - if there ever was one - for Mary. Rather at her site is a rather large tree which I now call Mary Link's tree. Long may it grow, watching over the sleeping ground.

Headstone of the Week

Baby Stilwell lived a very short time, just 23 days in 1922. I am told that until after WW2, a child was given a name only after the baby had lived at least 3 weeks and was still healthy. In some cultures, the baby only received his/her name upon completion of their first year of life.

There are many "Baby" headstones at MPC.

R.I.P. Baby

The wrought iron cross in section F is a mystery since there are no names on it. It is a beautiful work of art.

I was at the New Era Cemetery in Clackamas County
on Feb. 9, 2011 and discovered that that cemetery has four of these wrought iron crosses of varying sizes.

What is the history behind these monuments?

Deeper Meanings

A deeper study into the meanings of the type of monuments we find in cemeteries reveals this interesting factoid from the pages of a Victorian book about the meaning of ancient symbols:
The obelisk represents the sacred male energy coming from heaven, connecting with the sacred female receptive energy of the earth. Where they meet is sacred. Life begins at that place, or perhaps in some belief systems, life returns there to begin again. The top of the obelisk points toward heaven, beginning the cycle of life all over again.
I think I can live with that.

A Flower in the Garden of Untimely Demise: Harvey Hibbard

It was probably a warm summer's day in August, 1920. Two young boys playing in the cool space under a house. Harvey Hibbard and his friend were doing what little boys do, playing coyboys and indians. Unfortunately, the gun was loaded and little Harvey was shot.

Unfortunate because it was a childs game we would now see as abhorant, and unfortunate because the .38 Harvey took from his home did have a bullet in it. A bullet that went through his chest below the right lung. Harvey was taken to St. Vincent's Hospital where he died from the bullet wound at 8 pm. Another flower in the garden of tears.