With Memorial Day coming up this next Monday it was time to go to the family plots in the Byars, Oklahoma, cemetery to spruce up the graves of our loved ones. I met up with my Dad and his youngest sister, Laveta, today and went down with a car load of artificial flowers. I had picked up things for my Mom and Joanne's graves. Aunt Laveta, who normally takes responsibility of taking care of this each year, had arrangements for all the rest.
First stop was at Joanne. Prior to leaving for the RV rally earlier this month I had put some nice flowers on her grave. They still looked pretty go but I replaced them today with some new spring flowers.
Next was my Mom, who is one plot over from Joanne. The pink flowers were the ones I brought today. Earlier in the week, on May 22, my brother Chester had taken Dad down and placed the wreath there. The 22nd marked the one year anniversary since Mom passed away. We also put flowers on Aunt Esther (another of Dad's sisters) and uncle Joe's grave. They are on the opposite side of Joanne. Actually there are four family markers in a row here, along the main road coming into the cemetery. The fourth one (the red on in the picture below) is a pre-need marker for my oldest brother and his wife, who are still very much alive. We joke that since Bill is the oldest and I am the youngest of our parents four sons it is appropriate that we be on each side of the folks. That makes us the bookends.
After finishing up in this section (which is referred to as the new section of the cemetery) we moved farther south where many of the other Stone's are buried. The center of that plot are where my paternal grandparents are located. On each side of their headstone are flower pots that were originally on the front porch of their house in Byars. The pots need to be painted but it was just too windy to accomplish that today. I'll go down on a day when the wind is a bit calmer and take care of it.
We wound up spending about three hours at the cemetery taking care of the graves while also visiting with some of my cousins that came by to take care of their parents graves. With Dad and Aunt Laveta getting up in years it was a bit tiring for them. Additionally, I've got some medical things going on right now too so we were all ready to head back to town.
After dropping them off at the assisted living center where Dad lives in Purcell I headed back home. On the way I stopped by the cemetery in Oklahoma City where Joanne's Dad, Ted Priolo, is buried. One of my granddaughters and I had put flowers on his grave some time back and they need to be replaced. Also, since he is a World War II veteran I try to keep an American flag on his grave year round. I had picked up some red, white and blue flowers for him.
Hopefully during this holiday weekend, while people are enjoying themselves at the lake or cooking out in the yard we can all stop long enough to remember what the day is for. Though originally a day set aside to honor our war dead it is now more a day to remember all of our loved ones who have left this life and have gone on ahead of us to prepare us a place. So, have a blessed Memorial Day.
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