Mother died in Olympia Washington, and was moved here after Dad died. Dad always said he wasn't going to hang around Penrose just to get hauled up the hill to the Penrose cemetery. But here he is. Our kind neighbor has brought flowers to our parents' grave each Memorial Day since none of us can be there, an act of kindness we are tearfully and eternally grateful for. Perhaps these photos will help us honor our parents since we cannot be there this Memorial Day to report in and see where we stand.
The new gate to the Penrose cemetery
The original gate to the Penrose cemetery
The peaceful and eternally quiet Penrose cemetery; usually some meadowlarks singing, which Mother would approve of. When I was 13 years old, Grandpa Wasden conscripted me and my cousin Dean House to help him build a concrete curb around the Wasden family plot. The weather was hot, we had to haul water from the nearby canal, I can't remember what Grandpa mixed the cement in, we shoveled sand and cement. Grandpa gave us boys his usual spiel about what he had done by the time he was our age, and asked what we could say we had accomplished by this time in our lives. My cousin Dean said "I'll remember being out here on this hot day in this hot cemetery putting a concrete curb around the family grave plot." Then, the cemetery was all rocks, cactus, and sagebrush. Later, a new cemetery district removed all of the original plot boundaries, planted grass and trees, and the Penrose Cemetery is now a beautiful and special place for our Wasden grandparents, our parents, and some of our other Wasden relatives.
3 comments:
The experience had to be character building!
For the sagebrush surrounds, the cemetery looks really good. I am glad someone is taking good care of it.
I am a Watts. Have several family members there. I remember going there as a teenager with my parents. It looks much better than it did then.
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