Darien, Connecticut

The First Shall be Last, and The Last First:  As the holder of an A-name he spent his life as one of the alphabetical elites. Just imagine him as a publishing scholar: If his co-authors are more than two, the names might just be listed in alphabetical order, in which case his name will appear in scholarly indexes, and those with names at the end of the alphabet will be subsumed under the hated et al., meaning "and others." Isn't it time to bury et al. and its discriminatory tendencies? Spring Grove Cemetery. [2018]

Darien, Connecticut

Defined by Our Duds:  No, this is not the final resting place of Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire. But, this couple does personify elegance as much as they did. In both cases, elegance was defined not only by the dance but also by the duds. These two were partners in dance, partners in life, and, now, partners forever. But, were they married? That's unclear. Other mysteries: (1) Why is her name first? (2) Why are there three memorial doves? (3) What does it say in that open book? Spring Grove Cemetery. [2018]

Darien, Connecticut

The Last Shall Be First, and The First Last:  The expanding Roman Republic, in the first century B.C. finally took over Greece. In other words, the Latin-speaking western Mediterranean had to adjust to the Greek-speaking eastern Mediterranean. By that time, the Z had been dropped by the Romans. With the conquest of Greece, it had to be added back. Why? The sound of zeta in Greek (e.g., zephyr) needed to have a home in Rome. As for Zinna: probably Italian. And guess what: In Italian, the Z is not the the most infrequently used letter; the letter Y, for instance, doesn't even exist!. Spring Grove Cemetery. [2018]

Darien, Connecticut

Surname Initials as Identifying Logos ~ K:  The letter K is the 22nd most frequently used letter in the English language. Here's the K on a quilt-like garden flag, where it shares the summer with red-white-and-blue icons of nationhood. The color coordination is striking, right down to the carnations. Spring Grove Cemetery. [2018]

South Windsor, Connecticut

Voices from the Grave ~ First Person Singular Subjective Case:  "I have learned that success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome while trying to succeed." Those are the words of Booker T. Washington (who overcame many obstacles), but they have been adopted by a young man (or one of his survivors) who chose them to summarize his life on earth, along with these words: "Yes, I overcame and life was great! BOOYAH!" Wapping Cemetery. [2009]

Enfield, Connecticut

Liquid Refreshment in the Cemetery:  He must have been as cute as that teddy bear. Maybe he got even cuter when he partook of his favorite vodka or (look again) his favorite beer. Enfield Street Cemetery. [2013]

Windsor, Connecticut

History of Aeronautics ~ Chapter 4:  How do you symbolize the golden age of aviation? With a biplane, of course. It takes you right back to the first decades of the 20th century and that cadre of pilots who made God's domain our domain. The early masters of the open cockpit were called Early Birds. You qualified if you piloted an airplane before December 17, 1916. The Early Birds were in their prime when he was born just a few years later. St. Josephs Cemetery. [2013]

Branford, Connecticut

I is for Ifkovic:  Do you know what an "earworm" is? It's a tune that gets stuck in your head and keeps on going like the Energizer Bunny. (Worms, bunnies, mixed metaphors?) Earworms have found multiple niches in cemetery ecosystems. One niche is marked by headstones with lighthouses on them: "Brightly beams our Father's mercy from his lighthouse evermore, but to us he gives the keeping of the lights along the shore." That's the Phillip Bliss Earworm. St. Agnes Cemetery. [2009]

Windsor, Connecticut

Minimalist Memorials:  Name and dates engraved in fine-grained granite: Only four facts remain to tell the story of this octogenarian's life. It's a simple style of memorialization that is part of every graveyard. Why? (a) Personal preferences. (b) Financial constraints. (c) Cultural norms. (d) Cemetery restrictions. Whatever the reason, memorials like this seem to underscore the role of death as the great equalizer. St. Joseph Cemetery. [2013]

Windsor, Connecticut

Shamrock as Totem ~ Sacred and Secular:  Anyone can put a dash between date of birth and date of death. But why should a dash summarize a lifetime? If your name is Griffin, a shamrock might be a more appropriate liaise. What would you substitute for a dash on your memorial? As for the dimes....  Elm Grove Cemetery. [2013]

Windsor, Connecticut

Take My Hand:  Travis Thibodeaux penned the words when he was 12, and Wayne Toups made it popular. Although it wasn't written as an encomium to the eternal, you can almost hear hosts of heavenly angels using it to welcome this hand-holding couple to a distant shore.
        "Take my hand, say you'll be true
        Say those simple words, oh, I love you, only you
        Take my hand, oh, and hold it tight
        Take my hand and everything will be alright"

Elm Grove Cemetery. [2013]

Windsor, Connecticut

Halloween Cometh:  There is a direct, positive correlation between cemeteries and Halloween. Right? Not that Americans go to the cemeteries as Mexicans do during this holiday season, but much of the pop culture that surrounds the day comes from the graveyard. Elm Grove Cemetery. [2013]

Happy Halloween
Keep Rockin The Heavens

Madison, Connecticut

Food as 'Grave Goods':  Since Paleolithic times, food has been buried with the dead. Just look at one of Egyptologist James Henry Breasted's sketches below. Christianity, however, made clear that the body requires no nourishment in the afterlife. Food, as a result, is never interred with bodily remains and only rarely appears on headstones. An exception appears below. [2009]

"Looking Down Into the Grave
of a Late Stone Age Egyptian"
J. H. Breasted, Ancient Times, 1916,  p. 38