Bringing a boneyard back to life
Bringing a boneyard back to life
Vol. 1, Issue 22
"I turned 50 a few weeks ago. I have no real hope of ever being able to retire but I do hope that I'll somehow be able to spend my final days in some kind of humane hospice scenario with a cat on my lap to see me off." --Marcus Weir
NEWS & NOTES
Spotted a problem?
Fix it, if you can. That's what Raphael Morris did in 2015 when he saw a news story about a local cemetery that had become overgrown with weeds and invasive plants. Since the boneyard contained the graves of at least a dozen of his family members, Morris decided to do something.
He headed to the Greenwood Cemetery in Hillsdale, Mo., and began clearing away the brush.
“These souls deserved better than what they were getting,” Morris told St. Louis Public Radio. “The families deserved better than they had been afforded, and to be able to honor them, to show them the respect that they have deserved and they were not afforded, it just really, really, really makes you feel good inside.”
Greenwood was the first non-sectarian, commercial Black cemetery in St. Louis County. It contains more than 50,000 African Americans on its nearly 32 acres of land, including jazz guitarist Grant Green, actor Harry Fiddler, Buffalo soldier John G. Buford and Harriet Robinson Scott, wife of Dred Scott, the plaintiff in the U.S. Supreme Court case Scott v. Sandford. The cemetery is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the St. Louis County Historic Landmarks and the National Underground Railway Network to Freedom.
In 2016, Morris co-founded the Greenwood Cemetery Preservation Association to encourage others to help him make the burial ground a welcoming space. His wife Shelley, who is Greenwood Cemetery’s secretary and co-historian, assists families in finding their loved ones in the graveyard. The association has also joined forces with other groups to launch a significant restoration of the site.
Earlier this month, Greenwood Cemetery celebrated its 150th anniversary with a gala at the Missouri History Museum. The event was meant to honor the legacy of the cemetery and to help create an endowment meant to care for the maintenance of the site in the future.
FMI: Click here.
Halloween grief
Have you ever lost someone who loved Halloween? After they're gone, you might’ve found celebrating the holiday was just a bit tougher. Others are decorating their homes, dressing up in costume and looking forward to giving out candy to trick-or-treaters while you're missing someone who can no longer celebrate.
However, there are ways to make Halloween more bearable after such a loss:
* Did your loved one have any favorite Halloween traditions? Perhaps they carved jack-o'lanterns every year or gave away full-sized candy bars or watched scary movies. Consider doing the same in his/her/their honor.
* Light a candle for your loved one and keep it lit all night long.
* If your loved one is buried in a cemetery, visit the grave. Clean away debris from the area and bring flowers or a jack o'lantern you carved.
* Buy your loved one’s favorite candy and eat it that night. As you savor the treat, remember all of the good times you had together.
* Head to a local shelter and adopt an animal. Consider naming it after your loved one, or choose a name they would’ve appreciated. Then, tell your new pet all about your friend while taking a walk through the autumn leaves or cuddling on the couch after the trick-or-treaters have gone home for the night.
FMI: Click here.
Meeting death on our terms
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NOTABLE OBITS
* Ward Christensen, who co-invented the computer bulletin board system (BBS) with Randy Suess in 1978, has died at 78. In the 1980s and 1990s, BBSs gave many home computer users their first glimpse at what would become the online world, offering access to message boards, multiplayer gaming and file sharing. In addition to creating one of the foundational technologies of the digital age, Christensen invented XMODEM, a file transfer protocol that broke binary files into packets that could be safely transferred over often unstable telephone lines. (Benj Edwards, Ars Technica)
* Daytime Emmy-winning writer/producer Sherry Coben, 71, has died. Coben's big break came in the 1970s when she landed a job writing for the popular children's program "Hot Hero Sandwich," for which she received the Emmy. In 1984, she created the hit sitcom "Kate & Allie." The groundbreaking show, about two divorced mothers living together, ran for six seasons and inspired two spin-offs ("Roxie" and "Late Bloomer"). (Stephanie Kaloi, The Wrap)
* Rock vocalist Paul Di'Anno, 66, the original frontman for the heavy metal group Iron Maiden, died. Di'Anno performed with the band for its first two albums before he was fired in 1981 due to repeated clashes over his excessive use of drugs and alcohol. He was replaced by Bruce Dickinson, who continues to sing with Iron Maiden to this day. Over the next four decades, Di'Anno fronted several other groups, including Battlezone, Killers and Warhorse. He released his final album, "The Book of the Beast," last month. (Nardine Saad, Los Angeles Times)
* Julia Hawkins, who began running after her 100th birthday and set two world records, died. She was 108. Nicknamed "Hurricane," Hawkins wore a flower tucked behind her ear whenever she ran down the track. She would compete in races across the country, setting records in the 100-meter dash in the women-over-100 category (39.62 seconds) and in the over-105 age group (1 minute, 2.95 seconds). The Baton Rouge resident also set U.S. records in the over-100 categories in the indoor shot put, the indoor 60-meter dash and the outdoor 100-meter dash. (Alyssa Lukpat, The New York Times)
* Anwar Hussein, 85, Britain's longest-serving royal photographer, died. The photojournalist, who was born in Tanganyika (now known as Tanzania), spent five decades chronicling the lives of the Windsor royals, taking thousands of images, many of which were relaxed and candid shots. His photographs were used for Queen Elizabeth's official Christmas cards and featured on stamps issued by the Royal Mail. Hussein's sons, Samir and Zak Hussein, also became royal photographers. (Harrison Smith, The Washington Post)
* John Kinsel Sr., one of the last surviving Navajo Code Talkers, died. He was 107. The 400 Navajo Code Talkers were Marines who transmitted a code crafted from the Navajo language during World War II. Their encrypted wartime messages communicated troop movements to U.S. military commanders and helped to secure an Allied victory in the Pacific. Their code was never broken. Kinsel received a Congressional Silver Medal in 2001 for his service. (Alexandra E. Petri, The New York Times)
* Phil Lesh, the bassist and co-founder of the rock band the Grateful Dead, died at 84. Although classically trained in violin and jazz trumpet, Lesh would help to redefine the role of bass guitar in rock ‘n roll. He also sang lead vocals on some of the Dead's most memorable songs, including "Box of Rain" and "Unbroken Chain." When lead singer Jerry Garcia died in 1995, Lesh reunited with fellow band members Bob Weir and Mickey Hart as well as keyboardist Bruce Hornsby to tour as The Other Ones, and then, The Dead. He also released albums with his own group, Phil Lesh and Friends. (Aidin Vaziri, San Francisco Chronicle, and Isabella Gomez Sarmiento, NPR)
* Polish musician and teacher Janusz Olejniczak, who played the piano parts in the 2002 Oscar-winning movie “The Pianist,” died at 72. Aleksander Laskowski, a spokesperson for the national Frederic Chopin Institute, described Olejniczak as “one of the most outstanding contemporary performers of Chopin’s music." Olejniczak, who resembled the romantic-era composer, even played Chopin in the 1991 movie "The Blue Note." (Monika Scislowska, The Associated Press)
* Leif Segerstam, a prolific Finnish composer and conductor who described himself as "the Jesus of music," died at 80. A musical prodigy, Segerstam began composing music at the age of 6, eventually writing 371 symphonies. He led the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra from 1995 to 2007 but still found time to mentor young conductors. (Adam Nossiter, The New York Times)
* H. Cullen Talton Jr., who is believed to be the longest-serving sheriff in U.S. history, died. He was 92. Talton was a middle-aged dairy farmer when he decided to become a lawman. Voters elected him sheriff of Houston County, Ga., in 1972 and he remained in power for nearly 52 years. Popular with constituents for his mild manner and commitment to serving and protecting the public, Talton faced opposition at the ballot box only three times in a dozen elections. (Joe Kovac Jr., The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and The Associated Press)
* Former star pitcher of the Los Angeles Dodgers Fernando Valenzuela has died. He was 63. The left-hander from Mexico was known for his unorthodox pitching style and for becoming a cult hero to Mexican and Mexican American baseball fans, a phenomenon known as Fernandomania. In 1981, Valenzuela became the first and only player to win the National League Cy Young and Rookie of the Year awards during the same season. With his help, the Dodgers would go on to win the World Series, beating the New York Yankees in six games. The team retired Valenzuela’s jersey number in 2023. (Ed Guzman, Los Angeles Times)
* Pioneering stuntwoman Toni Vaz, who started the NAACP Image Awards to showcase the talents of Black artists and entertainers, died. She was 101. Vaz began her career in the 1950s when only a few Black women worked as stuntwomen. Even then, they rarely received equal pay or recognition. Vaz would work on more than 50 productions, including the TV show "Mission: Impossible" and the disaster movies "The Poseidon Adventure" and "The Towering Inferno." In 1967, she spearheaded the inaugural NAACP Image Awards, an annual ceremony that is now nationally televised. "I wanted a better image for the people who worked in the industry," she told the Crisis, the NAACP's magazine, in 2021. "I wanted to put this award show together to thank the producers for giving good roles to people of color.” (Harrison Smith, The Washington Post)
FAMOUS DEATHS IN HISTORY
On October 28, basketball coach Red Auerbach (89), author/poet Galway Kinnell (87) and Canadian-American actor Matthew Perry (54)
On October 29, English scholar/poet/explorer Walter Raleigh (64), Hungarian-American publisher Joseph Pulitzer (64) and former first lady Frances Cleveland (83)
On October 30, Australian philanthropist Phyllis Frost (87), American-Canadian singer Robert Goulet (73) and actor Al Molinaro (96)
On October 31, Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi (66), actor River Phoenix (23) and journalist Studs Terkel (96)
On November 1, Empress of Russia Alexandra Feodorovna (62), botanist John Lindley (66) and writer Ezra Pound (87)
On November 2, the first woman baseball player to play in the men's Negro League Toni Stone (75), basketball player/Olympic gold medalist Walt Bellamy (74) and jazz bassist Bob Cranshaw (83)
On November 3, French social reformer/feminist Olympe de Gouges (45), target shooter Annie Oakley (66) and French artist Henri Matisse (84)
On November 4, German pianist/composer Felix Mendelssohn (38), Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin (73) and author/screenwriter/director Michael Crichton (66)
RECOMMENDED SUBSTACK
FAMOUS LAST WORDS
"I'm losing." --Frank Sinatra
MOMENT OF GRATITUDE
Thanks to Gavin Allanwood, Unsplash, Greenwood Cemetery, the Missouri Department of Conservation, YouTube, the National Archives, St. Louis Public Radio, Apple News, Eterneva, DW Documentary, Ars Technica, Steven Glassman, The Wrap, Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, The Washington Post, San Francisco Chronicle, NPR, The Associated Press, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Crisis, Nick Fewings, On This Day, Playback.FM, Britannica: This Day in History, Time and Date, Wikipedia, A Bit of Good News, The Garden of Forking Paths, Mental Floss and Deposit Photos for art and story suggestions.
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