52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Week 21 Prompt - Tombstone

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks
Week 21
Prompt Tombstone
 

In 2013, Bill and I spent some time in Paris.  One afternoon, quite by accident, we found ourselves at Père Lachaise Cemetery.  It looked more like a park.  This 200 year old cemetery covers about 100 acres.  The afternoon stroll through here was filled with unbelievable monuments, mausoleums, columbarians and the most spectacular tombstones that I have ever seen.  The likes of Chopin, Proust, Oscar Wilde, Jim Morrison and more are entombed here.  The tombstones are works of art.  Google it sometime. 

The gravestones of my deceased relatives really do pale in comparison.  Having said that, they serve the purpose.  They mark the ground where they lay and sometimes give some basic information. 

My mother and father's grave in Saskatoon Woodlawn Cemetery

My Maternal Grandmother and Her Second Husband - Remember the Gravestone Has Misspelled McLaughlin. Also Buried at Woodlawn Cemetery in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.

My Father's Father - Frank Peters. Buried in Woodlawn Cemetery in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.

My Father's Mother - Elisabeth Peters Lies in an Unmarked Grave in Mountain View Cemetery in Vancouver, B.C. A Pauper's Case!

My Husband's Father - Anton (Tony) Hoffart. Buried in Woodlawn Cemetery and Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.  Clara Still Lives, But Nice To See it Ready Except the Date.

Bill's Mothers' Parents. They Are Buried at St.John's Cemetery. In 

Killaly, Saskatchewan.

Bill's Fathers' Parents.  Buried at Riverside Memorial Cemetery in Regina, Saskatchewan.

Bill's Mother's Father's Parents. Two Times Great Grandparents. They are Buried in Tahoma Cemetery in Yakima, Yakima, Washington. 

The tombstones come in all sizes and shapes.  Bill's mother once had a discussion with me about which is the best gravestone to get.  It was a flat stone so that it could not be as easily vandalized.  Clara has a gravestone cleaning kit.  I kid you not!   Bill and I had the pleasure of going out to Tony's gravestone to scrub and polish the brass on his headstone.  Then we removed all the weeds and  trimmed the grass.  We then did the same thing to her parent's graves in Killaly.  The graves were covered by Lichen and that is miserable stuff to get off.  She worked effortlessly in the sunny hot July heat when we were there.   

As I see it, gravestones are becoming a thing of the past as people choose to cremate the remains of their loved ones.  Some inter the remains, but not many.  Some are spread out over the oceans, lakes, mountains and land to rest in obscurity.  

Wendy