Community Chat

[Noel7]

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@PurpleBunny wrote:

@Noel7  Long story short,  I took care of the flowers on the grave of an elderly man's wife.  Turned out, he had been really ill and couldn't come water the flowers and he was heartbroken thinking they had died.  I was there so much, I always saw him and I knew something must be wrong because the flowers were dying.  Well, when he saw me, that  man hugged me and cried his eyes out, he was sooooooooooo grateful.  He knew it had to be me that took care of the flowers. One of the most touching moments of my life. 

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@PurpleBunny  I think you could write that as a true story, it's so touching for all of us.  Wonderful

[goldensrbest]

I am always scared i might fall in!!

[ShowMe]

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@Noel7 wrote:

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@PurpleBunny wrote:

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@Noel7 wrote:

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@PurpleBunny wrote:

It is Beyond my comprehension how anyone could ever, ever, ever vandalize a cemetery. I Can't even stand to see a piece of wayward trash on someone's grave. 😡  When I walk the cemetery, I feel as though I am related to and responsible for everybody.  

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That's beautiful @PurpleBunny

It's also true, we're related to everyone.

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I walk there for exercise, and after a while, you memorize all the stones. I feel like we are all friends and I want them all to be treated with respect. I want everyone there to have at least me, to care about them. 

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OK, that really is beautiful!  @PurpleBunny

I've always loved walking through cemeteries, and there are so many beautiful ones in this area.  When DD was little, we took her for walks through different cemeteries to see different cultures.  It's really a teaching moment. 

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I too find it interesting to go to different cemeteries.  The culture is very interesting.  Up in St. Charles (on the other side of the Missouri River) there is an old German cemetery.  Some of the stones are so old you can hardly make out the printing on them.  Back in the days, they used to place a photo of the deceased encased in a frame.  Found those always to be very interesting.  These cemeteries are always so very well maintained. 

[PurpleBunny]

@ShowMe  I love memorial stones. Some of them are exquisite. When you think that the older ones were carved by hand, it's amazing. 

[Greeneyedlady21]

@Noel7 That's just a beautiful story, so good to read things like this.

[Noel7]

@PurpleBunny  and @ShowMe

You might like to know about Colma, The City Of The Silent, right next to San Francisco.  I'll have to research how many cemeteries are there. it's an amazing place.

"The town was founded as a necropolis in 1924." 

With most of Colma's land dedicated to cemeteries, the population of the dead outnumbers the living by over a thousand to one. This has led to Colma's being called "the City of the Silent" and has given rise to a humorous motto, now recorded on the city's website: "It's great to be alive in Colma."  Wiki

I'll look for some stats and be back.  Most people from SF end up there.  There are a lot of jokes about Colma, good natured.  You pretty much have to go through it to get to several other towns and shopping areas south of here.

[Noel7]

Demographics:

Informally, as of December 2006, Colma had "1,500 aboveground residents ... and 1.5 million underground".

According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 1.9 sq mi (4.9 km2), all land. The town's 17 cemeteries comprise approximately 73% of the town's land area.

I find this list of notables interesting because the poor and the quirky people lay peacefully next to the rich and famous.

Notable interments

Many, if not most of the well known people who died in San Francisco since the first cemeteries opened here have been buried or reburied in Colma, with an additional large number of such burials in Oakland's Mountain View Cemetery. Some notable people interred in Colma include:

• Cypress Lawn Memorial Park
  • William Henry Crocker, business magnate
  • Charles De Young, San Francisco Chronicle founder
  • Phineas Gage, famous 19th-century medical curiosity
  • William Randolph Hearst, newspaper tycoon
  • John McLaren, horticulturist
  • Turk Murphy, jazz musician and bandleader
• Hills of Eternity and Home of Peace (side-by-side cemeteries)
  • Wyatt Earp is buried next to his wife, Josephine Marcus Earp
  • Julie Rosewald, America's first female cantor
  • Levi Strauss, denim trouser pioneer
  • Alice B. Toklas is not buried in Colma, though there is a large Toklas tombstone for her and markers there for some of her relatives
• Holy Cross Cemetery
  • Joseph Alioto, San Francisco Mayor
  • Pat Brown, 32nd governor of California
  • Patrick and Terence Casey, the San Francisco brothers team of pulp writers
  • Frank "the Crow" Crosetti, New York Yankees shortstop
  • Joe DiMaggio, baseball player
  • Abigail Folger, coffee heiress and Manson murder victim
  • A.P. Giannini, Bank of America founder
  • Vince Guaraldi, jazz musician
  • James D. Phelan, senator
• Woodlawn Cemetery
  • Henry Miller, California cattle rancher
  • Joshua Abraham "Emperor" Norton, a late 1800s San Francisco celebrity known as "Emperor of these United States and Protector of Mexico"
  • José Sarria, LGBT political activist who styled himself "The Widow Norton" in reference to Norton
• Emperor Norton was the self-proclaimed Emperor of CA and lived in SF.  A little touched, he dressed the part and gave proclamations.  He was much loved and treated royally.

[PurpleBunny]

@Noel7 Sounds fascinating!  I'd love to take a roadtrip and just photography beautiful stones and cemeteries. 

[ShowMe]

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@Noel7 wrote:

@PurpleBunny  and @ShowMe

You might like to know about Colma, The City Of The Silent, right next to San Francisco.  I'll have to research how many cemeteries are there. it's an amazing place.

"The town was founded as a necropolis in 1924." 

With most of Colma's land dedicated to cemeteries, the population of the dead outnumbers the living by over a thousand to one. This has led to Colma's being called "the City of the Silent" and has given rise to a humorous motto, now recorded on the city's website: "It's great to be alive in Colma."  Wiki

I'll look for some stats and be back.  Most people from SF end up there.  There are a lot of jokes about Colma, good natured.  You pretty much have to go through it to get to several other towns and shopping areas south of here.

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Very interesting.  My sister lived in Alameda and worked in SF at the Embarca Dera (?) Center.  She and my late BIL made many trips while living there.  Will find out if she ever went there. 

Can understand why it is called "the City of the Silent".....boy, bet they could tell some stories.....

[PurpleBunny]

There was an interesting moseleum in my local cemetery. I googled the occupant and to say her history was fascinating, is an understatement.   There are soooo many forgotten stories.