Cemeteries are windows to the past, but sometimes they are somewhat clouded and cracked, so that the past we conjure up is cloudy or incomplete. I considered using this stone for a Wordless Wednesday post but then I realized I have questions that I wanted to ask about it. The monument stands to Barbara and Jacob Miller in Forest Lawn Cemetery and looks unremarkable for its time and place – the metal plaque with the deceased’s faces on it is a little more rare. But it was the epitaph that intrigued me.
Like father and mother they remembered us in life. We will not forget them in death.
Mr. and Mrs. Capt. J.B. Souter
Who were the Millers and the Souters? What relationship did they have? The epitaph strongly implies that the Souters erected the Millers’ monument, a task usually carried out by family. Did the Millers have family that couldn’t or wouldn’t take care of the arrangements? Or were the Souters and Millers related, just not immediate family to one another?
A Grave Concern 