Today, after having a scrumptious breakfast at First Watch Restaurant in Fairway, KS, with my mother-in-law and my husband. We decided to take a short drive around where Betty grew up and worked, our first stop was to show her Dick Blick Art supply store on Main street, which is a block south of the Blood Bank where my mother-in-law worked most of her career. As we headed north on Main toward the river market area of Kansas City and crossed over the murky brown Missouri River. With her direction, we found North Kansas City High School built in 1926, which she graduated from in 1960. My mother-in-law was sadden when she saw her grammar school (which was south of the high school) had been turned into a parking lot.
It started to lightly snow as we headed south back toward Kansas city, we were turning from Gillham RD toward Main street, we caught site of a old cemetery (Union Hill Cemetery, est. 1857), well Chris knew that I would be happy if I could take a look, it was a bit hard to find the entrance as we had to wind around its perimeter, once we found the entrance the site was amazing, we could see family crypts built in to the hill sides, family plots surround by urns or ropes with one tall memorial and several small stones with the names of the individual family members. The leaves at fallen off of most of the trees and the marble headstones engravings had faded, with the light snow falling down it was the most peaceful place.
My mother-in-law saw all the condos surrounding the cemetery, she was not sure if she would like to live next to a cemetery, but before I chimed in my husband said "Patty always says that living next to a cemetery you will have the best neighbors." I would love to live next to cemetery, it is filled with history, stories of long lost lives and art work from all the headstones.
I told her, "I thought I was becoming a bad influence over her, dragging her through cemeteries." She said she actually would like to come back when the weather was better and walk through the cemetery, she was fascinated by the older dates on the headstones. I think she is getting use to my fascination with cemeteries and genealogy.
On the south side of the cemetery there where two large vaults, with the name of Gregg and McGee. When I approached the McGee vault, I saw at the base of the door someone had drawn a pentagram and placed a penny and rocks on it. In front of the Gregg vault someone (human) pooped by the vault. The pentagram I figured were kids trying to scare each other, but the poop that was beyond me why someone would do that. As a rookie genealogist, cemetery records are the last impression the world sees of a life that mattered. To have your name carved in stone and someone reads or says your name, your memory is brought back to life once again.
Once we left the old cemetery, I started my google search, I found out that is the oldest public cemetery in Kansas City, MO, there are veterans from every war, from the Revolutionary War to the Vietnam War. Interesting enough are individuals from both sides of the Civil war.
Wars divided people, but death always brings us together.
