Re-Burial

Yesterday I attended a re-burial dinner held by my father's good friend, Tim Robinson. The entire event, which centered around Tim's late uncle, Dr. Sam Smith, was chronicled by The Des Moines Register's Kyle Munson.

You can read the story here.

I really admire Tim's initiative and dedication to getting this done. As is noted in the article, Sam's death year is incorrect on his headstone, something Tim believes will add to his uncle's already significant mystique. I don't know if I would be so resigned about it.

When my great aunt passed away in early 2011 the engravers put 2010 on the stone, then tried to patch their work and re-engrave 2011 on top. The result was less than desirable.

At the time, I was the only one with genuine concern about it. Others seemed annoyed by it, but not enough to actually do something about it. I finally took on contacting the funeral home, then the engraver, then routinely keeping on him until he fixed it a few months later.

My grandfather's headstone is also incorrect, except his has the wrong birth year. I don't know who took care of things when he died in 1977. It was probably my grandmother, who well knew he was born in 1909, but perhaps was too distraught during that time. She was never one for paying attention to details like that. His grave says 1910, but it was generally known (and later backed up with research) that he was born in 1909.

Unlike my great aunt's headstone, it was not be a quick or easy fix, as the style of the stone would require a complete refacing. And, while my great aunt's stone was done gratis, this would surely require a hefty price tag.

No one is going to pay for that.

So for posterity his grave will read "Irvin Staker 1910-1977". It's already been that way for nearly 40 years, and it never seemed to bother my late grandmother. I guess I'll just have to accept that it's literally carved in stone.