Respect and remembrance–two important words that sum up the history of Decoration Days at cemeteries. The deck is wet with rain this morning, the morning is dark. A dove and a robin are trying to wake up the other birds with their songs, and I think back to yesterday and the annual observance of Decoration […]
May 19, 2020
Decoration Day
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One by one, we abandon traditions, leaving the past behind. It’s sad, because, although we shouldn’t live in the past, we need a sense of continuity. There is something comforting about following patterns, about observing practices that have been carried down through generations. It gives me a connection to my ancestors. Decoration Day, always the […]
Mar 23, 2019
The Body in the Cemetery
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It was a spring day when Darcy and Flora went to Goshen Cemetery. It was a little later than it is now–May, in fact. It would soon be time for the annual Decoration Day at the Cemetery and Flora, being on the Cemetery Board, wanted to make sure everything was in readiness. Birds sang, the […]
May 22, 2017
Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow at Our Family Cemetery
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Yesterday, I thought a lot about long ago yesterdays, years past, people who are no longer with us, and the promise of tomorrow. The weather smiled on Decoration Day at our cemetery, a cemetery that six generations of my family have honored through more than a hundred years. The weather was perfect–so chilly yesterday morning that […]
May 16, 2016
With One Foot in the Past
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Decoration Day dawned as lovely and serene as only a May day in Oklahoma can. Goshen Cemetery basked beneath an early morning sun. Droplets of dew sparkled like emeralds and rubies on freshly cut grass. Birds sang in ancient cedars, undisturbed by groups of people moving quietly over the cemetery with their bouquets of flowers. […]
May 19, 2013
Decoration Day at Caney
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Each third Sunday in May, people gather at a country cemetery in Cherokee County called Caney. I think of it as our family cemetery because many of my family and relatives are buried there. Of course, many others who are unrelated lie there too. Six generations of my family are there, from Clint who was […]
