Memorialized

The origin and purpose of Memorial Day was meant to commemorate U.S. men and women who had died during military service. It was originally called Decoration Day and was enacted just after the Civil War to honor fallen Union soldiers. Since then it has been expanded to honor all who served. For my family it means something like that, but has generally taken on the purpose of remembering all family members who have died, regardless of military service. Each Memorial Day we travel the valley and visit the graves of about 5 or 6 close relatives, *four of which actually served in the military. I honor them today and throughout this weekend.


*Laurence Blake
*Walter Leatherwood
Roscoe B. Mackay
*Earl M. Pearson
Ada Pearson
Marsha Leatherwood
*Bryce Leatherwood


At the grave site of each person we generally tell/listen to stories about that person. Then we gather with Lisa's side of the family and have a little picnic. Then, later in the day, we gather at Connie-Bob's and have another picnic with the other side of the family.

Before Marsha died she picked out a very specific burial plot. She is buried at Valley View Memorial in West Valley, which sits adjacent to Winder Dairy. Winder Dairy has a little country store not a hundred yards from where Marsha was buried. She picked that spot because she wanted her grandchildren to be able to come see her and then walk to the country store and get an ice cream cone. It was her way of making sure her grandchildren found some bit of joy in visiting her grave.

Three out of our 5 children get a little kick out of seeing their own names on the headstones. One year Mitchell was sad because none of the headstones bore his name. We quickly pointed out that it wasn't necessarily a bad thing. [wink]