Saturday, September 14, 2013

Lurking Tank

I took a trip, around Labor Day, across the bridge to South Portland in search of a family plot at Calvary Cemetery that I had lost track of over the years. My Dad took me there a few times, but after they trimmed away the identifying towering yews on either side of the stone, I could not find it amid the stones and myriad of dirt roads. I ventured over many times but always came up empty-handed. If I had remembered that the family name was not on the stone, that would have helped a great deal and shortened the hunt significantly. So, J- and I went out to breakfast and headed out on our quest. We stopped at the cemetery office and the gal there was quite helpful in giving us a map and heading us off in the right direction. After about a 10 minute search, we found it just where to lady said it would be. In a section at the back of the cemetery with large colorful oil tanks keeping watch. In the family plot is buried my grandmother, who died in 1922, when my Dad was only 9, my grandfather who passed away in 1970, his sister Madge and her two husbands. The next day, I headed back over, looking for the large plot, that I knew I'd find of the Sisters of Mercy. I found the resting place of Sister Mary Adelaide, my Dad's aunt, who passed away in 1978. I took mental notes of the two sites, so I'll be able to take both my sisters there when they are back in the area again. I'm sure they'll both want to see these sites. 
Another job, of a big brother, accomplished.

12 comments:

  1. We have an old city cemetery with a big blue tank in the background. Takes away some of the 'charm'!
    V

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  2. the oil tanks are rather odd for that ambience. :)

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  3. Brothers are wonderful folks to have in one's life, let me tell you. I adore mine and just got off the phone talking with him--he lives in central Mississippi, outside our hometown of Jackson.

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  4. I didn't get the colorful thing in background, at first...

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  5. Thank you for sharing this story today...
    I enjoy looking at your picture !

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  6. You are a good big brother! Your image today is a true study in contrasts.

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  7. Thank heavens for helpful cemetery staff! It seems so easy to lose our ancestors after they've been buried. They may not be forgotten, but their new addresses do get lost.

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  8. Mary of the Rainbow. Boston Gas was the first one that painted a gas tank. Their tank on the Southeast Expressway was painted in the 1970s by Sister Mary Corita Kent. I just googled it and see that it is still the same!

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  9. It's poignant, standing there at those sites, isn't it? Some merging of energies or . . . something.

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  10. Your a good guy. I agree with Sharon about the contrast. Nice shot.

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  11. I wonder how many cemeteries are named Calvary? I find cemeteries to be quite interesting; so many stories to be told.

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  12. Well done Birdman.. I'm a big fan of considerate big brothers!

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