Memorial Day Tradition

Rich's parents, Rusty and Gloria, were very much into Memorial Day. Every year they would buy the most beautiful Mum plants they could find and travel over three counties to decorate the graves of their forefathers. That tradition has continued in my husband's heart; he honors his parents by continuing to make the trek each Memorial Day. I have been involved on some level for years, but this (I'm ashamed to say) is the first year that I was involved in the entire process.

It all started on Wednesday evening when we bought the sixteen Mums that we would take to the graves.  It was fun picking out the pretty colors and thinking about which ones would be appropriate for which graves.
We next took highways 132, 148 and 6 through rural Utah to get to Silver City and then Eureka. It was a rainy day, but scenery was beautiful nonetheless.

We left at 7:30 am and our first stop was in Springville where Rich's parents are buried. Gloria always loved the little trees planted by the headstone. The pink flowers were the ones Rich took for Mother's Day, the white ones for Nanna on Memorial Day and the orange/yellow ones for Rusty.

Our next stop was the Levan cemetery. For those of you not familiar with Levan, it is a small town about 30 minutes south of Nephi.

There we visited the graves of William and Mary Sherwood. Mary Sherwood came across the plains and later worked in Brigham Young's home; it is through her that our family has a chair and platter belonging to the second prophet.

Also there is the grave of Aunt Leah, Gloria's aunt who was a favorite for her fun personality and joking ways. Rich could remember visiting her in Levan when he was a boy.

I thought this old Levan Chapel built in 1904 was just beautiful with its gothic arches.

We next took highways 132, 148 and 6 through rural Utah to get to Silver City and then Eureka. It was a rainy day, but scenery was beautiful nonetheless.

Rusty built this fence around the grave of his grandfather, John Samuel Rife who was famous for leaving Spanish Fork to join the Texas Rangers (not the baseball team).

It rained furiously as we traveled from Levan to Silver City and the dirt roads almost got the best of us. We were sliding as if we were on ice and snow and worried that we would get stuck, but fortunately we made it out and stopped at a Santaquin carwash to clean off the tires.

Silver City is a ghost town; the cemetery is all that remains visible. The land is now used for grazing sheep and it was fun to see the new spring lambs frolicking.

Our next stop just down highway 6 was the Eureka Cemetery

The graves of Gloria's paternal grandparents.

Aunt Elsie was also a favorite great aunt that Rich could remember from his childhood.

On the way from Eureka to Santaquin we shared the road with this herd of cows with their real cowboys on horseback. You don't see that everyday, and who would think you'd see it so close to home!





fter a delicious lunch at Marie Callendar's at 3900 S and 1100 E our next stop was the Wasatch Cemetery, where we remember the location of Gloria's parents by finding the shortest tree in the line.

Alice Howard Rife is the wife of John Samuel Rife who is buried in the Silver City cemetery.

Uncle Bill, Gloria's "baby brother," lives in Spokane so we always put out a flower for his dear wife.

Next we traveled downtown to the Salt Lake City Cemetery - the oldest cemetery in Utah, being established in 1848 - just one year after the pioneers arrived in the valley.

Earleen and Frank Gear are aunt and uncle to Gloria. It's obvious that she was a favorite niece and loved her aunts as she remembered many of them each year on Memorial Day.

everal years ago while in this cemetery Rich visited President Kimball's grave and was astounded that no one had placed flowers there; ever since he's always included President Kimball in the graves that we decorate.

Beautiful clouds over the SLC cemetery.

Another beautiful old chapel, this one near the SLC cemetery. I just love older architecture, it has so much character and beauty.

Our seventh and final cemetery stop was in American Fork.

The Robinsons were Rusty's maternal grandparents and we have a picture of Grandma Rhodes, as she was known, holding Rich as a small baby. She died when he was under a year old.

This is the grave of Rusty's parents. His Dad died while Rusty was serving in the Pacific in WWII. I remember Grandma Rife and we have a picture of her holding Mary as a baby.


So ends our adventure, it was a wonderful day to spend a day with my sweetheart, honoring those who have gone before.