Actually, to call them floral sprays would be a either a compliment to the sprays, or a put down to flowers...since the "floral" sprays were made of plastic (not even silk) flowers. At what point does someone decide to honor their loved one with flowers that are in colors nature never intended. One headstone had flowers that were neon shades of orange and yellow (I really wish I had a picture because there's no way I could even describe how ugly these were). If someone put one of those on my headstone, I would do everything in my power to come back as a ghost and haunt them for the rest of their lives...or until they removed those ugly sprays.
I also find it very creepy to find headstones where only one of the people listed on it are actually deceased (I think it sounds better to say deceased than dead...). If I was Robert, I wouldn't want to go to visit Lila's grave to put flowers on it and see my name there. By the way, it appears that Robert chose the always popular blue flower. Mother Nature is known for her blue flowers...
I did happen to take a photo of an interesting headstone. I'm not sure what possessed someone to choose a headstone in the shape of a log (or is it a tree stump?), but this is actually not the first one I've seen (The other one was a pile of wood). The question is, did the deceased ask for this headstone, or did his family members think that this headstone would represent who the deceased was? Was he a logger? I don't know. Actually, if you look closely, there is an emblem on the log (tree stump?) that says "Woodmen of the World Memorial". Does that mean that there are more of these headstones scattered around the country? See? Finding a headstone like this is intriguing.
Maybe one day I will tell you how I feel about roadside memorials...
2 comments:
Woodmen of the World is a non-profit, fraternal, life insurance company that has been around since 1890. Every member that has a policy is also a member of a fraternal lodge. The lodges have social and business meetings and the members often volunteer at a lot of community service and charitable events. Woodmen of the World donates flags to many community churches, courthouses, hospitals etc., and it even has a summer camp program for youth members. In the early days of the organization, the death benefit of the life insurance policy included a headstone. One of the oldest symbols of the company is a tree stump, an axe, and a maul. Woodmen of the World headstones can be found in cemeteries all over the country.
This is why I love blogging...I learned something about Woodsmen of the World. I would never have realized it was such a large organization with such a history! Missouri doesn't usually have many woodsmen (loggers, but I'm not sure that's really the same thing), maybe that's why I haven't heard of this organization before.
Post a Comment