Osyka, Mississippi

Identity Headwear ~ Railroad Workers:  Daddy worked for Illinois Central. It looks like even his kids knew him by his hat. He made a living as a railroad man; he made a life as a family man. And his kids knew it: "To the world you may have just been somebody, but to all of us you were the world." Osyka Cemetery. [2018]

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]

Dearborn Heights, Michigan

Patriotism at the State Scale:  Here's someone who fell in love with Michigan. Maybe he was born there, but for sure he lived there and died there. And, to the grave he took his beloved, or be-licensed, Detroit Tigers. St. Hedwig Cemetery. [2008]

Cheyenne, Wyoming

Patriotism at the State Scale:  Or should this be called tribalism at the state scale? The bucking bronco has been a persistent symbol of Wyoming identity for decades (and probably longer). Perhaps its role in the cemetery is to proclaim the value of those who helped to tame the American frontier. What do you make of the numerical symbolism? Lakeview Cemetery. [2013]