HISTORICAL COMMENTS BY GEORGE CHEVALLIER 12-26-15

The Cemetery Plot

Most of us don’t give much thought as to where our bodies will spend eternity. The deed to the family plot in Parsons Cemetery has come down to me and there are still seven gravesites unused in Lot B202. My grandfather originally purchased this lot in 1967 and only he, my grandmother, my mother, my father and my nephew are interred there.

My grandfather was the first to be buried in the lot. My mother was handling the placement of the stone and had a large stone placed at his head with the names DISHAROON and CHEVALLIER prominently displayed and a small foot stone placed at his feet. She figured that since only those family members would be buried there, the large stone would identify them and subsequent foot stones would identify the individuals in each different gravesite. When it was in place, my mother took my grandmother out to Parsons Cemetery to see it. When my grandmother saw the stone, she was not pleased with the wording. Her comment was, “He wasn’t a CHEVALLIER”. And she promptly ordered another stone with just DISHAROON on it. This replaced the small foot stone and now my grandfather is the only grave in Parsons Cemetery with two large stones. He also has probably the most elaborate coffin. It is copper lined mahogany and hermetically sealed with a glass top inside the coffin for viewing. Some archaeologist will have a real surprise some day because the undertaker said he would look just the same 1,000 years from now. I always defended my decision to have done it this was by saying that it was his money and he should go through eternity traveling in style. To some this was a terrible waste of money, but if I had to do it all over, I would do the same thing. Good decisions don’t have to be second-guessed.

We haven’t had to do it here, but in some parts of the country, graves hold more than one coffin. I found this out when I went to a burial down south. I noticed that the grave was very deep and inquired why. That is when I was informed that some couples are buried that way to save cemetery space. Just think that which ever one of them dies first, they have to spent eternity looking at the other’s backside.

Cemetery deeds are given to the original purchaser of the lot. In our case there are twelve grave sites. As these are used the deed goes to the next family member, usually in chronological order. It is not considered real property in the estate and is registered with the undertaker, who just keeps filling it up until it is full and then the deed is retired.

Parsons Cemetery is owned by St. Peters Church and managed by Holloway Funeral Home. The history of it is quite fascinating and I have written about it before. The mystery of the horse buried there is just that – a mystery. It took four lots to fit him in, but there is no stone telling whose he was or anything else about him. Maybe somebody out there can fill in some of the blanks for me on this one. I will include the information in my history of Parsons Cemetery.

One plot – twelve gravesites – five used to this day. I hope I’m not number six.