Skip to main content

Lessons from the grave

Friday I received a lesson from the grave, as it were!

I went down Quarryville to get new brakes on my car. Well, it's actually Daddy's car and he prefers I stick with the Ford dealer down there and they have always been good and fair to my parents so no argument from me. Anyway, I got there a half hour early - forgot school was out already and I allotted for school buses on the road - and he got an early start on the car which in turn meant I got out of there earlier than expected. So, what does everyone do with an extra half hour? I stopped at a cemetery on the way home.

I chose the New Providence Mennonite Cemetery. Good choice. I will be posting the next couple Tombstone Tuesday prompts using some of the photos I took. But there is one in particular I would like to share today, along with my lesson from the grave.



I walked up to the stone and squatted down to take my photo of Richard B. Eckman (1910 - 1992) and his wife Verna Aukamp (1918 - 2003). It's been awhile since I have leisurely walked around a cemetery looking for no one person in particular just simply checking out the surnames. I did find quite a few Eckmans and Millers and Herrs and Kunkles.

When I got home I showed my husband the photos and said I really liked the new phone. The camera, I said, was pretty decent. He said he thought the camera was great and that I should look closer. And that is when I saw me!



Lesson learned!

It was such a nice day and I was so excited to be out walking around a cemetery that I forgot all about the sun. That and I did not realize just how good my new phone camera was. The one I just replaced would have never picked me up like that.

On the lighter side ... I did take a memorable selfie!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Coatesville's First Serial Killer

Young Alexander Meyer was a disturbed and angry young man with some major issues. He had failed sixth and seventh grade, and instead of having to repeat eighth grade again, he finally gave up on school. At age 16 he quit Downingtown Junior High. Meyer is not a relative, nor are his victims (that I am aware). I stumbled upon young Alex while reading Tortured Minds: Pennsylvania's Most Bizarre - But Forgotten - Murders by Tammy Mal. On 11 February 1937 Alexander Thweatt Meyer killed young Helen Moyer as she walked home from school in Coatesville along Modena Road. She was not his first. The jury was out only three minutes after hearing Dr. Michael Margolis' testimony on the death of Helen Moyer. The jury determined Meyer had murdered Moyer and should be held for first degree murder. The jury also condemned the parole system which had released Meyer back into the public, after having served just 14 months in Huntingdon Reformatory, for the murder of two other girls - Anna Blasc...

Thaddeus Stevens at the Lancaster Convention Center

Within the Lancaster Convention Center (Lancaster, PA) is a small section dedicated to Thaddeus Stevens and Lydia Hamilton Smith. The section is known as the Stevens & Smith Historic Site. It is scheduled for development this year. At the moment one can only get a glimpse of it through the Convention Center or by peeking in from the outside. Here at Queen and Vine Streets in Lancaster City, Pennsylvania, Thaddeus Stevens had his law office. Stevens was an abolitionist. An abolitionist is a person who favors the abolition of a practice or institution, especially capital punishment or (formerly) slavery. Stevens was born 4 April 1792 to Joshua Stevens and Sarah (Sally) Morrill in Danville Vermont. One of four children, he attended Vermont University from 1810 to 1812 when the War prompted its closure. He then went to Dartmouth, where he graduated in 1814. He then studied law and found himself set up in Gettysburg, PA in 1816. He practiced law there until 1828 when he...

52 Ancestors: Remembering the King

Today is Elvis’ birthday. He would have been 80 today.   I was only eight when he died so obviously I am too young to have seen Elvis perform. However, when I hear his music, I go back in time. I am once again that young girl dancing in the living room to Elvis and other greats with my father. Back then girls learned to dance by dancing with their fathers not some video of scantly dressed people doing all sorts of things young ladies should not be doing in public!      What is YOUR favorite memory - either of your father or of Elvis?   52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks is a weekly genealogical challenge issued by Amy Johnson Crow, of No Story Too Small . Look for my weekly posts each Thursday!   © Jeanne Ruczhak-Eckman, 2015