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]

Newberrytown, Pennsylvania

Bequeathed to the Living ~ Final Philosophies:  "Life is a voyage, homeward bound." Paddleford Cemetery. [2017]

Bay St. Louis, Mississippi

Voices from the Grave ~ First Person Singular Subjective Case:  "I'm Gone."  There is no period after "gone," so please finish the sentence for him. Think of it as a rebus. Rebus = a puzzle in which words are replaced by pictures. Cedar Rest Cemetery. [2014]

Newberrytown, Pennsylvania

January is for Palindromes:  Palindromal numbers are part of a field called recreational mathematics, and there is no better place to entertain yourself with numbers than a cemetery. Numbers everywhere! Not only did she die in a palindromal year, her birth and death bookends are perfect binary code. Reverse just too digits in 1919 and you get 1991. What are the chances of that? Now you see why its called recreational mathematics. Paddletown Cemetery. [2017]

Lyndon Center, Vermont

Balloon Rides to Heaven:  Take one last look at at the lake before you go where that airplane can't take you. Up, up, and away: beyond the clouds. With a little lift from the angels circling that balloon, you are about ready to exchange the Northeast Kingdom for the Heavenly Kingdom. Lyndon Center Cemetery. [2009]

Blumenort, Manitoba

Canadian Epitaphs: Here's the puzzle: He carries a distinctly Russian Mennonite surname, which is found throughout Manitoba. (If it sounds German, that is because the Russian Mennonites originated in Germany.) The name alone would lead you to believe he was a profoundly religious soul. However, the epitaph betrays a touch of agnosticism: "If there is another world, he lives in bliss. If not another, he made the most of this." If nothing else, his headstone loudly proclaims a belief in Canada, a love of the land, and the freedom it provided his ancestors (see the eagle?). EMC Cemetery. [2012]

Lumberton, North Carolina

America's Most Famous Lighthouse:  Do you recognize the Cape Hatteras Light? The candy stripes give it away. Americans love superlatives, and the tower at Cape Hatteras is the nation's tallest. We love it so much we put it on our headstones and take it to heaven with us. In fact, it points toward heaven, presumably so visitors will know where we have gone. Thus, a landscape element becomes a deathscape element. Meadowbrook Cemetery. [2011]

Tuckerton, New Jersey

New Jersey's Barnegat Lighthouse:  How many lighthouses do you see here? What is the lifespan of each? One will last a few hours; one will last a few years; and one will last forever. Which one is which? What about the fourth light, the one who lasted over eight decades? Greenwood Cemetery. [2016]

Tuckerton, New Jersey

New Jersey's Barnegat Lighthouse:  Each lighthouse is given a different pattern, which is sometimes enhanced by different colors. The designs are not for aesthetic purposes, but because the towers are used as navigational aides during the day. In fact, in this role, they serve as daymarkers. When people off the coast see a lighthouse, they know which one it is by its markings, and that's the way they know where they are. Perhaps this fisherman used the Barnegat Light as a daymarker during his many returns from Neptune's domain. Greenwood Cemetery. [2016]

Big Coppitt Key, Florida

Gone Fishing with the Lord:  Fill in your own epitaph:  "Gone _____ with the Lord." Then sketch out your own eternal landscape. Southern Keys Cemetery. [2014]

Cynthiana, Kentucky

Caught the Big One:  "Forever the fish bite in heaven." That fish is as big as the boat. Battle Grove Cemetery. [2015]

Dillsburg, Pennsylvania

Caught the Big One:  Looks like a big-mouth bass, doesn't it? Bet he is reeling them in one after another in his new life. Bet his friend is there to help, too. Dillsburg Cemetery. [2013]

Jedburg, South Carolina

Gone Fishing:   For him, a boat and a fishing pole. For her, a rocker and yarn. Therein may lie the secret to a happy marriage! Jedburg Baptist Church Cemetery. [2012]

Port Penn, Delaware

Gone Fishing:  There's only one person in that boat, and there's one big blank space where his wife's name should be. What's the story? Hickory Grove Cemetery. [2013]

Wellsville, New York

The Promise of the Wind Waker:  "The days pass happily with me wherever my ship sails." So said Joshua Slocum, the first man to sail single-handedly around the world. Will your circumnavigation end in the same port where you started? Have you charted your course to your final port of call, wherever it might be? Woodlawn Cemetery. [2013]

Salisbury, Maryland

The Promise of the Wind Waker:  "There is but a plank between a sailor and eternity." So said hymnist Thomas Gibbons. And then, all planks disappeared. Do you think they deliberately chose a burial plot at water's edge? Parsons Cemetery. [2013]

South Dennis, Cape Cod, Massachusetts

The Promise of the Wind Waker:  "Happiness is brief. It will not stay. God batters at its sails." So said Euripides. But, the happy days on Cape Cod Bay must have sustained them through the darker days of life, the days when the clouds weren't so white and puffy. Oak Ridge Cemetery. [2010]

Baltimore, Maryland

Focus on Oak Lawn Cemetery:  Is this a memorial to those here interred or to the S.S. Carla-C? Somehow, all three lives were intertwined. The Carla-C was one of those ocean liners that led the European cruise industry out of the World War II era. From 1952-1994, she showed a new generation the shores of the Atlantic, Caribbean and Mediterranean. This couple was part of that new generation, but they died so young! [2014]

Athens, Ohio

Patriotism at the State Scale:  Ohio was her home, but much of her life must have been spent at sea. Both of those loves show up on her memorial. A marker on the back of the headstone shows that she was in the Navy, but the ship is Carnival Cruise Line's Imagination. Does the coded message on the license plate, 777IWIN, have anything to do with a job she held on board? West Union Street Cemetery. [2014]

Franklin, West Virginia

Left Behind ~ Kid Art:  Here's proof he had grandkids, proof that family communication goes on after death, proof that love endures. Fresh from Sunday School? Probably. As ephemeral as life itself? Assuredly. Cedar Hill Cemetery. [2014]