Memorial Day 2021, Remembering our Family

 

Memorial Day 2020, I was recovering from pneumonia, surgery, a broken wrist, and the pandemic was locking down the country so I was unable to visit any graves or leave any flowers.  This year, I decided for Memorial Day, I would like to remember and honor as many ancestors and relatives as possible.  In addition, I wanted to remember the Frontier Mine No. 1 coalminers killed in 1923.  

My preplanning included making tags for our Roberts Roots & Branches family and for the Frontier Mine No. 1 coalminers, and attaching the tags to a single silk flower.  For Roberts ancestors I used various colors of silk flowers, but for the Frontier Mine No. 1 miners I wanted a single color and I selected yellow, which ended up working perfectly.  I attached tags to the Roberts family member’s flowers and my grandchildren helped me attach tags to the coalminer’s flowers.  As we worked on attaching the tags, it sparked conversations about the coalminers, our ancestors, and the meaning of Memorial Day.

I set out a week before Memorial Day weekend and did a three-day cemetery trip through Utah and Wyoming.  On day one, I visited and left flowers at seven different cemeteries.  I previously visited five of the seven cemeteries, so it went pretty fast as I knew exactly where the graves were and had previously mapped out the grave locations, however I got lost several times trying to locate the cemeteries.  For the two new cemeteries, I created maps and was able to locate grave locations through the individual cemetery’s online indexes and maps, which made my visit easier.    

 

I left first thing in the morning and it was quite cold, but it warmed up and although it threatened to rain all day, it did not and the weather was perfect for walking cemeteries.  The second cemetery I visited was the Salt Lake City Cemetery for Takamichi Kaneda, a Frontier Mine No. 1 coalminer buried there.  I found his grave, took a GPS reading, left a flower, and took a picture.  As I was leaving the cemetery, I noticed there was an unusual amount of headstones toppled over.  I have never seen so many fallen headstones in a single cemetery.  I am not sure what caused all of the headstone trauma, but I wondered if it had something to do with the extreme windstorm last year.  On 8 September 2020, a destructive severe windstorm blew in from the east and damaged trees, light poles, bushes and other features at the Salt Lake Cemetery.  The University of Utah measured wind gusts as high as 112 mph.  The cemetery remained closed until one week before Memorial Day 2021.  I was unaware it was closed while the day I was there, as the gate was open and there were no signs stating otherwise. 

From the Salt Lake City Cemetery, I drove up to the Bountiful, Centerville, Layton Lindquist, Bear River, and Riverview (Tremonton) cemeteries.  It was a perfect day for cemetery work; cool weather, quiet, and the traffic was light for a lazy Sunday afternoon. 

I spent the night at my daughter and son-in-law’s home and then the following morning drove through Bear Lake to Kemmerer and Diamondville.  As I approached Bear Lake the lake was a stunning clear turquoise gem, so I stopped and snapped a couple of photographs.

I arrived in Kemmerer at around 1 pm, and oh my, it was windy and cold!  The temperature, according to my car was 50’ and the wind made it even colder.  The Sexton of the Kemmerer Cemetery informed me it had snowed the previous morning!  She also explained about the water line break and so they were unable to water the cemetery lawn causing the grass to still be dormant.  In addition, they were busy digging three new graves and getting ready for Memorial Day. 

 As I started out my flowers blew away, my papers and folders attached to my clipboard blew, and I was cold even though I had on my heaviest coat.  I worked two sections and then left to go get something warm to drink and to warm up.  After about an hour, the wind calmed down a little and the sun warmed up enough to make it bearable.  I visited with a sweet dear lady I met previously, who had relatives who died in the Frontier Mine No. 1.  She was thrilled to hear that I was leaving flowers for the coalminers.  She also knew some of our relatives and in a roundabout way, we are related through marriage!  She told me some stories and asked me to contact her and she would happily share more.

At the Kemmerer Cemetery, I drew maps and directions to each of the coal miner’s gravesites, placed flowers, and took photographs.  I looked back at the sections sprinkled with yellow flowers and realized how many graves were filled shortly after the disaster in 1923.  Such heartbreak and sorrow for the small communities and the miners who died.  The groupings of yellow flowers were humbling. 

I placed flowers, photographed Roberts’s family headstones, and finished up even though I was frozen. As I left town, I stopped and marked two graves in Diamondville with flowers.  In total, I placed over one hundred flowers in memorial for those in the Kemmerer Cemetery.  I wearily drove to Rock Springs where I spent the night at my son’s home.

Tuesday morning was perfect and beautiful.  It was warm and sunny!  Thank goodness.  And, the wind was only a breeze, which is great for Rock Springs!  I began the morning at the Rest Haven Cemetery, where I marked the three various family members graves and took photographs.  I then drove over to the Rock Springs City Cemetery.  It was so easy to locate all of the graves with my “Where Our Roots Rest, Volume I” book.  It made locating all the graves quick and easy.  I placed flowers, took photographs, and relished in the blessing it is for me to know my ancestors through my research and remember them as I placed each flower.

On my way home, I made my final cemetery stop in Green River at the Riverview Cemetery, placed flowers, and took pictures of the final four graves of our ancestors. 

On my drive home, I had overwhelming feelings of the honor and privilege of being able to place a flower in memory of my ancestors and relatives.  I would love to be able to leave a large floral bouquet on each grave deserving of each Roberts family member, however that would be impossible.  Therefore, a humble single silk flower will have to suffice.  I am very blessed to know the Roberts family through my research and to have the honor of remembering them, on behalf of all of their descendants. 

Happy Memorial Day!

Happy Decoration Day!

Take a moment and in your own way honor your ancestors.  Travel safe and enjoy your family