Yesterday was the annual Decoration Day at our ancestral cemetery. The weather cooperated with blue skies, sunshine (lots of sunshine) and an altogether lovely Oklahoma spring day. The cemetery is well-looked after, neat and serene. Decoration Day is an annual tradition dating back into history. My grandparents came to this very same spot, year after […]
May 19, 2020
Decoration Day
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One by one, we abandon traditions, leaving the past behind. It’s sad, because, although we shouldn’t live in the past, we need a sense of continuity. There is something comforting about following patterns, about observing practices that have been carried down through generations. It gives me a connection to my ancestors. Decoration Day, always the […]
May 16, 2016
With One Foot in the Past
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Decoration Day dawned as lovely and serene as only a May day in Oklahoma can. Goshen Cemetery basked beneath an early morning sun. Droplets of dew sparkled like emeralds and rubies on freshly cut grass. Birds sang in ancient cedars, undisturbed by groups of people moving quietly over the cemetery with their bouquets of flowers. […]
May 19, 2013
Decoration Day at Caney
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Each third Sunday in May, people gather at a country cemetery in Cherokee County called Caney. I think of it as our family cemetery because many of my family and relatives are buried there. Of course, many others who are unrelated lie there too. Six generations of my family are there, from Clint who was […]
