Epitaphs

Funerals and cemeteries are places of attraction and contemplation for me. In fact, when on vacations my wife and I frequently stop at cemeteries and walk among the gravesites and look at the epitaphs or other memorial inscriptions on the grave markers.   Though assiduously avoided by many, especially among the young, death and our interment for perhaps a long time in a grave or an urn will be the lot of us all—or at least a part of us (the corporeal part). 
   

On or adjacent to these final ‘resting places’ will likely be a ‘head stone’ or other grave marker—some memorial with an inscription, symbols, or sentiments that were important to the decedent or to those related to the person so interred.  We or our loved ones want to have a permanent reminder for our posterity of our time on earth and that some part of us still remains on the spot visited. It is customarily done to help future visitors remember some quality or value or promise and leave the visitor with a sense of appreciation and hope for the individual.  Words of comfort and scriptures are common.

Common inscriptions (with variations) include:

·        In memory of . . .

·        With love we remember . . .

·        Forever in our hearts . . .

·        Eternally loved . . .

·        Forever with the Lord . . .

Not infrequently, especially in earlier eras, were humorous or light-hearted inscriptions.  One I saw in a little graveyard in downtown Boston, Mass. read: “I knew I wouldn’t get out of here alive.” A few other grave markers I’ve seen photographs of include:

·        Told ya I was sick!

·        Here lies good old Fred.  A great big rock fell on his head.

·        Joke’s over.  Let me out now!

·        Here Lies Lester Moore. Four slugs from a .44 No less, no more.

·        He loved bacon (oh, and his wife and kids too)

·        Here lies George Johnson—hanged by mistake 1882.  He was right; we was wrong, but we strung him up—and now he’s gone.

·        That’s All Folks—Mel Blanc

The old cowboy movies and television programs frequently had a scene in a ‘graveyard’ where the grave markers were typically just a board or a small wooden cross with the words, “Here lies. . .,” or “Rest in Peace,”  “RIP,” a skull and crossbones or just the name and birth/death date.

But more evocative and appropriate, I believe, are inscriptions of the genre created by some of history’s great thinkers:

·        Death is the golden key that opens the palace of eternity—Milton

·        Death hath no sorrow that heaven cannot heal—Moore

·        Dust thou art, to dust returneth, was not spoken of the soul—Longfellow

·        He hath awakened from the dream of life—Shelley

·        Where there is much light, the shadows are deepest—Goethe

·        Is death the last sleep?  No, it is the last and final awakening. Sir Walter Scott

·        Life is eternal; and love is immortal; and death is only a horizon; and a horizon is nothing save the limit of our sight.  –Rossiter Raymond

·        The only way to take sorrow out of death is to take love out of life.

·        So when a great man dies, for years beyond our ken, the light he leaves behind him lies upon the paths of men.  Charles Sumner

·        There never was a night that had no morning

Many general or religious sentiments are evocative, but I have chosen (like many others) on two occasions to write very personalized inscriptions that mean a lot to me—and I hope to my loved one buried there:

·        True and Faithful

·        Beloved daughter, wife, mother, friend, and Mormon Woman

For me, I want my marker to say what I believe most about myself: 

·        A devoted father, husband, and disciple of Jesus Christ

What do you want for yourself?   Let some responsible person in your life know before someone else chooses something for you that you may not want to be left as your legacy.