Rockford, Ohio

Honoring Our Public Servants ~ Coasties:  Maybe you don't think of members of the U.S. Coast Guard as public servants, but you should. They do serve the public. From his memorial, it looks like a job he dreamed about his entire life, and then got to experience it: short but fulfilling life. Riverside Cemetery. [2018]

Canal Winchester, Ohio

Honoring Our Public Servants ~ Teachers:  Most teachers don't have to work for 38 years to draw their pensions, so she must have been a public servant in love with her job and in love with her charges. Given her birth year, it is likely she may have begun teaching with only a 2-year normal-school degree. That means she would have been very young and probably not even 60 when she retired. Union Grove Cemetery. [2014]

Cincinnati, Oho

Burial or Cremation?  If someone is cremated, the problem becomes what to do with the ashes, or cremains. Option 3: Scatter the ashes. The advantage is that the deceased is immediately returned to the earth: dust to dust. The disadvantage is usually that you don't have a headstone for future generations to discover. However, here is an example of someone who has remedied that problem: a memorial that tells us where the ashes were scattered. St. Joseph's Cemetery. [2013]

Greenville, Ohio

Picture-Perfect Farmsteads:  The linework in the etching is just as perfect as this family's lifework on the farm. If they invite you into their home, you will find a pot of coffee brewing on the stove. What else could they be brewing? Greenville Cemetery.  [2018]

Williamsburg Ohio

Defined by Our Duds:  His existence may have been defined more by the duds of previous generations than by his own. Sometimes it is more important for headstones to reveal what the ancestors wore. Black granite etchings are one way of keeping the traditions of American Indians "alive" (or at least commemorated). "Just as an eagle soars on and on, you will remain in our hearts." Williamsburg Cemetery. [2016]

Canal Winchester, Ohio

Defined by Our Duds:  Sports must have been at the center of his life, and that football uniform he wore as a young man created an identity that accompanied him to the grave. In the mind's eye, so many people see themselves eternally decked out in sports duds. Union Grove Cemetery. [2014]

Carroll, Ohio

Give Me That Old-Time Technology:  Ham radio shaped generations of men's lives. Right KA8KNV? For many it became almost an addiction. Right K3ODS? Ham stands for nothing more than "amateur." Betzer Cemetery. [2017]

Union City, Ohio

Adjacencies ~ Sunflowers:  What is adjacent to the cemetery? In agricultural areas, fields of any and every crop may ring rural graveyards like this. But, none are as eye-catching as fields of sunflowers refracting the mid-day sun. Snell Cemetery. [2018]

Jamestown, Ohio

Adjacencies ~ Grain Silos:  What is adjacent to the cemetery? In the American agricultural heartland, both cemeteries and silos are virtually ubiquitous. When they are found together, they generate a doubly powerful spirit of place. Some of the souls buried here may very well have delivered corn to this set of storage bins. Silver Creek Cemetery. [2013]

Fultonham, Ohio

Log Cabins Forever:  Many log cabins anchored the newly planted farmsteads in the Old Northwest. They have almost all disappeared from the landscape; but, there are still a few places where their memories are preserved. Seriously, though, no one would trade today's world for the world portrayed here, right? Fultonham Cemetery. [2016]

Greenville, Ohio

The Last Shall Be First, and The First Last:  It was St. Matthew who wrote that the last shall be first. Perhaps, he had the Hebrew Z-names in mind. But, that would be illogical since Z is only the seventh letter of the Hebrew alphabet. Zacharias is the Greek version of the Hebrew Zachariah. Remember him? John the Baptist's father. Biblical names have had exponential power to spread beyond their ethnic niches, sometimes as family names but more often as given names. Greenville Cemetery. [2018]

Greenville, Ohio

Yuletide Epitaphs:  "It's not what you take with you. It's what you leave behind." Old adage, still true: You can't take it with you! But, you can leave a lot behind. Something to remember on Christmas Eve. New Greenville Cemetery. [2018]

Mt. Oreb, Ohio

Surname Initials as Identifying Logos ~ H:  The letter H is the 8th most frequently used letter in the English language. Here, it is framed by a circle, which we might conceptualize as a halo. He was certainly a Christian (see the cross?) and his family name may have come down to us from "holy man." Mt. Oreb Cemetery. [2016]

Oakfield, Ohio

The Baptist Churchyard:  When churchyards served as cemeteries, you had a chance to visit departed loved ones at least once a week. Death was a visible and ever-present part of life. Perhaps, locations like this provided more opportunities for passing on family memories to younger generations since you found yourself there so frequently.  Oakfield Baptist Church Cemetery. [2017]

Bevis, Ohio

Voices from the Grave ~ First Person Singular Subjective Case:  "I pray that I may live to fish . . . until my dying day. and when it comes to my last cast, I then most humbly pray: When in the Lord's great landing net and peacefully asleep that in His mercy I be judged big enough to keep." Cedar Grove Cemetery. [2010]

Lancaster, Ohio

Voices from the Grave ~ First Person Singular Subjective Case:  "I Did It My Way." Can't you just hear the Chairman of the Board: "I've lived a life that's full, I've traveled each and every highway, But more, much more than this: I did it my way." Maple Grove Cemetery. [2016]

New Holland, Ohio

Choreographically Yours:  We know why the driver's seat is empty on the tractor. Not because he has gone to the great beyond, but because he is busy dancing with his bride. For more than 50 years, they kicked up a storm on the dance floor of life. Union Cemetery. [2016]

Hamilton, Ohio

January is for Palindromes:  A palindrome is a word that reads the same forwards and backwards. In this case, the word is a family name originating in the Italian language. It means 'bone.' If your last name were a palindrome, wouldn't you be tempted to use Hannah, Anna, Otto, or Bob for your kids. But, why is January the month for palindromes? Stay tuned. Saint Mary Cemetery. [2012]

Carroll, Ohio

One True Love ~ A Man and His Tractor:  Looking for a research topic? How about gender roles as depicted on cemetery memorials? Clearly he took care of things in the outside world, and she took care of things at home. Betzer Cemetery. [2017]

Washington Court House, Ohio

One True Love ~ A Man and His Tractor:  A few years later, a lyricist, Jason Aldean, put it all in perspective: "And I can take you on a ride on my big green tractor, We can go slow or make it go faster, Down through the woods and out to the pasture, Long as I'm with you it really don't matter." So, maybe the tractor isn't always a farm boy's one true love! Washington Cemetery. [2016]