Resting Reveries

What's In a Gravestone?

2012-02-19T23:02:00.002-10:00

This post over at A Grave Interest made me think about the messages sent to us by gravestones about the people who are buried there. An epitaph says a lot but sometimes the stone itself tells a story!

This photo to the right is one of my favorites! I love the stone and I love the letters! I cannot help but think Ms. Carter Galt must have been a very fun-loving lady! Seeing this stone make me wish I knew her!

It's a rock. I'm serious -- it's a rock! I figured you might not believe me so I made sure to include the rear view below.

This post was actually started on December 2, 2011 but I owe this family so much more research and text about them. I will do that in another post but for now, since I fell in love with this stone when I saw it, I just have to share it.

In addition, sharing this photo with everyone is part of my attempt to assist with the kick-start and recovery of the Graveyard Rabbits Carnival, I am including it before I am satisfied with text. I am very satisfied with my other Carnival participants -- you have GOT to check it out!

There are many more photos to be taken around O'ahu -- and the State if I ever leave my island, but for now my photos are limited compared to those of my graveyard hopping friends. As of right now, I must admit that this is my favorite photo because there are few, if any, like it.

Gravestones where you least expect them!

2012-01-22T20:31:00.000-10:00

On the 4th of July a few years ago, 2007 to be exact, we went fishing with family. It was a beautiful day and everyone was enjoying the sun, the ocean, and time with each other. When I got annoyed at my own clumsiness, I turned my attention to other things. You can find the post about that day here.

If you are on Facebook, here is a link to the fishing story: http://www.homespunhonolulu.com/lets-go-fishing/)

My attention turned to photos of the interesting surroundings. Here is what I wrote about a very oddly-placed item:

"As luck would have it, and as odd as I am about such things, I get to be the lucky one to spot a gravestone cemented to the reef at right about the high-tide water line."

Keep in mind that this was more than four years before I found some like-minded people and became the Graveyard Rabbit that I am now.

Ellen May McEnroe Miles passed away in May of 1999. I tried that day in 2007 and I have tried since to look up her name on the Internet but I have found very little about her. I did find something on one of the ancestor sites but could not find out any real detail about her or her life.

Perhaps she was a family member of the family that lived in the house fronting the beach where we were. Maybe she loved Hawaii and this was her final wish. Maybe her ashes were spread here.

The inscription says, "Soaring through the heavens." Perhaps someone will see this and leave a comment about who she was and/or why her grave marker is here. It is quite a conversation piece, if you happen to be around at low tide.

What on Earth is a Graveyard Rabbit?

2012-01-16T07:58:00.000-10:00

If you look to the right you will see a strange looking rabbit and wonder what that is all about. Trust me, so did I! I'm supposed to be a what? What's a Graveyard Rabbit? I had to know! It did not take very much or very long to find out. Who doesn't love Google at times like this?

The Graveyard Rabbit

by Frank Lebby Stanton


In the white moonlight, where the willow waves,
He halfway gallops among the graves—
A tiny ghost in the gloom and gleam,
Content to dwell where the dead men dream,

But wary still!	5
For they plot him ill;
For the graveyard rabbit hath a charm
(May God defend us!) to shield from harm.

Over the shimmering slabs he goes—
Every grave in the dark he knows;	10
But his nest is hidden from human eye
Where headstones broken on old graves lie.

Wary still!
For they plot him ill;
For the graveyard rabbit, though sceptics scoff,	15
Charmeth the witch and the wizard off!

The black man creeps, when the night is dim,
Fearful, still, on the track of him;
Or fleetly follows the way he runs,
For he heals the hurts of the conjured ones.	20

Wary still!
For they plot him ill;
The soul’s bewitched that would find release,—
To the graveyard rabbit go for peace!

He holds their secret—he brings a boon	25
Where winds moan wild in the dark o’ the moon;
And gold shall glitter and love smile sweet
To whoever shall sever his furry feet!

Wary still!
For they plot him ill;	30
For the graveyard rabbit hath a charm
(May God defend us!) to shield from harm.

Edmund Clarence Stedman's American Anthology

1787-1900, published in 1900

That anthology actually contains five of Stanton's lyric poems. I fell in love with this poem as I'm sure the founders of The Association of Graveyard Rabbits must have. Well, that is until about the 28th line or so -- "To whoever shall sever his furry feet!" The scary part of that line is that I had a recurring dream when I was a child -- I kept dreaming that I had to wear special skates or my feet would fall off. Seriously! I kid you not! I wonder if that was somehow prophetic. Hmmm... kind of creepy actually.

At any rate, I don't think I will ever want to look at or touch a rabbit's foot again! But, that is for another conversation.

I love the poem and I love that my new found association adopted it! I'll adopt it too -- with an ever-so-slight different selection of words. Getting back to that button on the right, it was lovingly designed by yet another graveyard rabbit, the footnoteMaven. You might want to Google that name too!

Jose Rizal's memory lives on at Mililani Memorial Park

2012-01-14T12:11:00.000-10:00

Who is that statue? Who is José Rizal? My oh my, what a loaded question that turned out to be! I should be ashamed of myself for not knowing. Don't ask me why I think I should feel ashamed, but I do!

In the Phillipines, José is a national hero! He was a brilliant man who stood up and spoke for his people and against the established regime and other powers trying to manipulate his people. He earned a degree as a doctor and he also wrote novels.

"Why independence, if the slaves of today will be the tyrants of tomorrow?" The Reign of Greed, José Rizal.

Rizal Day is celebrated every year on December 30th, the anniversary of his death/execution in 1896. December 30, 2011 marked the 115th anniversary of the wrongful execution of this young, wonderful life.

During his travels he actually became conversational in 22 languages!

"He who does not love his own language is worse than an animal and smelly fish."

It is a good thing that I am pretty fond of my language!

I did ask Mililani Cemetery why this statue is there. They could not answer me about its history. They could only tell me that it had been there as long as they had been working there. I did, of course, asked about the hat. The reply was that people put leis on him all the time so maybe someone was trying to protect the head of the statue.

"Oh, from the sun?"
"No, from the birds!"
"Good point."

If they locate the history of the statue, the promised to call me and let me know. Then I can share it with all of you.

José Protacio Rizal Mercado y Alonso Realonda

The statue certainly does not do him justice -- he really was a very nice looking man. Wikipedia had this photo and I was very happy to be able to share a true representation of this very young and brilliant man.

If you read through even a little of his history, you can see why he is a hero with the Filipino people!

You can follow this link to get a better idea of his biography. This was the best synopsis of his story that I ran across. Just let me say that I am very impressed and will visit in his honor when I can and report any new discoveries about the statue's history.

Wordless Wednesday: Roman Catholic Cemetery

2012-01-11T06:37:00.000-10:00

Wordless Wednesday: Mililani Cemetery at Christmas Time

2011-12-20T22:01:00.000-10:00

Batesville's Living Memorial for Mom

2011-12-20T05:30:00.000-10:00

Mom passed away in August. We worked with Mililani Mortuary to do what needed to be done and made sure she had the casket she so admired. Three months later, I received a little card and a letter in the mail from the Batesville Casket company.

I never realized that Batesville Casket, or any other company for that matter, did something like this. I received a card certifying that a "tree seedling has been planted as a memorial to [my] loved one." The letter said, "Mililani Memorial Park & Mortuary made this thoughtful request on your family's behalf." They did? I didn't ask them to do that. My sister didn't ask them either, I'm sure.

This program is done in "cooperation with the Forest Service, United States Department of Agriculture, as part of a major reforestation endeavor." Well, being the closet dryad that I am, this certainly struck me the right way! What a wonderful project! Even if they only do it whenever someone buys one of their caskets, it's still a great gesture.

The most meaningful statement was printed on the little card.

"The significance of a unique life is symbolized with the planting of a tree."

Mom was a very unique and wonderful lady. Many thanks to Batesville for doing this for us and to Mililani Mortuary for reminding them!

Wordless Wednesday

2011-12-06T22:01:00.000-10:00

What happens when there is no family?

2011-11-28T07:03:00.000-10:00

I have to admit to being a little troubled by this stone. Does this mean that Ms. Waterbury had no surviving family at the time of her demise? While I acknowledge that she was just shy of her 93rd birthday... yeah, okay, it happens.

If I find out more about this lady I will be sure to share it here. We should all be so lucky to have friends who will take care of us at times like that!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-11-23T21:54:00.000-10:00

Thanks is due to so many for so many things but mostly to our Lord for the gift of life and the promise of the afterlife. May we all share in both!

But it's just a cemetery, right?

2011-11-20T08:02:00.000-10:00

I decided to move this from one of my other blogs to get this started and because it is so worth sharing! It will also provide all the "GPS" information needed for readers. The original and the original blog for this blogger can be found over at Homespun Honolulu.

The National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific at Punchbowl is, for me, one of those places that are taken for granted by residents. I really wanted to talk about O’ahu cemetery, which I will later, but I had to do Punchbowl first… just because. Even though I was born and raised on the island of O’ahu I had never been to a funeral there, never stepped foot on the soil there, never drove through the gates, never that is… until last week.

Geographically, this cemetery is located right in the middle of everything on Pu’owaina Drive in Pu’owaina Crater. This crater is an extinct volcano in the area often referred to simply as Punchbowl. Likewise, the cemetery is often referred to simply as Punchbowl Cemetery, since “National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific” is such a mouthful.

Gazing into the cemetery from the front gates, there is a huge stone statue set back against the side of the crater. Thinking it a statue of Christ, I didn’t really think anything of it except that I thought it strange to be so large in a military cemetery. I can’t imagine any burial place being more non-denominational than a military one. As I got closer and my gaze became more focused I realized that the statue was not who I thought it was.

Who’s That Lady?

First of all, it’s a woman. Who is this lady? Why is she here? What does she represent? Well, I guess I’ll have to do some research later and find out. Let’s get closer and see what we have here. Why so much concrete? Names. There is nothing but names engraved into a bunch of cement walls. These walls make up the “gardens” that flank the staircase leading up to that lady. So many names.

At this point reality has already begun to sink in. I’m close enough now to read what’s in raised stone at the bottom of that statue.

“THE SOLEMN PRIDE THAT MUST BE YOURS TO HAVE LAID SO COSTLY A SACRIFICE UPON THE ALTER OF FREEDOM.”

That’s a nice quote. Okay, so, on the way back down I turn to read the sign that I missed on the way up; I was just so focused on and captivated by that statue. The sign at the bottom of the staircase said, “In these gardens are recorded the names of Americans who gave their lives in service to their country and whose earthly resting place is known only to God.”

That was it! Reality bit hard! The tears started to fall and I started talking to myself, “You bitch!” That was all I could come up with, “You BITCH!” I spent the rest of my time there chastising myself severely for all of those times that I have gotten annoyed with military personnel, been offended by their cat calls, or for those times I just plain took on an attitude with our people in uniform. Feeling sorry, saying sorry, that just doesn’t cut it! That’s 28,778 names whose “resting place is known only to God.”

It was kind of cloudy that day and kind of overcast. That didn’t help my now melancholy mood. Could you see Diamond Head from there? Yeah.
Nice view. In fact, it was beautiful. But, I’m sorry, the view of the ocean and Diamond Head suddenly paled in comparison to the gravity of what was surrounding me. After I left the cemetery and started to do some research, to explain just what it was that I saw — so that I could share it in an intelligent way, things just got worse.

There are a lot of interesting tidbits about this burial place! This cemetery has been called one of the most beautiful and most moving of all military cemeteries. I got the “moving” part down! Seven hundred and seventy-six people killed on December 7, 1941 during the attack on Pearl Harbor were among the first to be interred there. Sigh, no surprise there. There are over 30,000 graves of those who died in war. They are some of the casualties from World War I, World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War. So many.

I had to look up the meaning of the Hawaiian word, pu’owaina. Yeah, it was the name of the street but it was also the name given on one of the pillars at the cemetery entrance. Now, if they put it on that pillar, it must have some relative significance. I found it. Loosely translated, Pu’owaina means Consecrated Hill or Hill of Sacrifice. I also found a note that these grounds had once been a secret burial place for the Hawaiian Ali’i (Royalty). “Wow, I didn’t know that.” There are over five million people that visit the cemetery every year, and yet I had never been there.

Now, what about the statue of that woman, and the inscription beneath her? The descriptions that I found say that this is a thirty-foot statue of Columbia and that she is looking over her lost children. Then I discovered that the words at her feet are not just something thrown together by someone trying to be poetic or a company creating bereavement greeting cards. Those are the words of our beloved and ever-so-eloquent President Abraham Lincoln writing to a mother mourning the loss of five sons during the Civil War. It was in his letter to her that President Lincoln wrote those same words, “The Solemn Pride That Must Be Yours to Have Laid So Costly A Sacrifice Upon the Altar of Freedom.”

Yes, the awesome sacrifice of men who lost their lives, mothers who lost their children and a country that lost many fine citizens – all to give us the freedoms that we cherish. Those sacrifices continue now in Iraq and elsewhere. Needless to say, I have developed a greater respect for the men and women that make up our Armed Services and a deeper sense of what patriotism really is. Enough said. Here is a link for more pictures and a less-emotional description of the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

That was the original post. It still makes me cry but it still means so much.