Retracing Our Past Through Travel - Day Four

     Today was the day that we scheduled to bury Mom. It turned out to be a very interesting day. We drove several hours from Stillwater, MN to southwestern Minnesota.
     On the way, just South of Minneapolis, there is an airport with a very nice display near the entrance to the airport. The Thunderbirds are doing a star burst pattern.

 Thunderbird Simulation

     We finally arrived at the cemetery and no one was there. We drove over to where the grave site was and it didn't look like there was any hole dug for the cremation container. Getting out of the car, we discovered that there was indeed a hole dug for the container but...on the WRONG side of the headstone! We were beside ourselves. Here is what we saw...

     You can imagine our amazement at this gaff! Well, we called the digging company and they said they would send someone right out. They had to drive 10 miles but arrived in about 6 minutes so they were burning rubber in their pickup truck.
     Out pops the owner of the digging company (85 years old) and the other worker (about 78 years old). He had a toothpick in his mouth and was able to talk to us while the toothpick moved from one side to the other. They both stood there and scratched their heads and said if we wanted the hole dug on the other side, they would do it. We said, OK, let's do it!
     The older guy (owner) began digging while the younger guy began to talk to us. Turns out he knew all the people that we used to visit when we were kids so it ended up a kind of entertaining experience.

Digging the New Hole

     After digging for a while, the older gentleman sat down ON TOP of our mother's head stone and kind of tapped the shovel in the hole like he was still digging. We thought he looked pretty tired and about ready to have a heart attack! Well, they finally got the new hole dug and the first hole filled back in. Then they told us they would leave for a while so we could have our service but to call them when we were done because they had to fill the hole while we were still there.
     We conducted our service and placed the container containing Mom's cremains into the hole.

     We called the diggers and within a few minutes, in drove the truck again. They carefully filled in the hole and then replaced the sod. Wait! The older one filled in the hole while the younger one told us a few interesting stories about other burials they had done.

     One story was about an old Civil War burial near our plots that they found by using some new fangled digging machine. They found the head stone buried about 3 feet below the surface. The younger guy took it home, cleaned it up and then they placed it on top of the grave (shown below).

Civil War Veteran

     The stone says

JAMES A. 

2nd Son of the late 

JOHN HANNA 

ORKNEY 

of Quebec Canada 

Died 

Aug. 12, 1906

     The second really interesting story then came out. He said "You see that circle over there with the mushrooms growing? Turns out Indians used to be in this area and they had their teepee in that spot. When it rained, the oil from the bear hides went into the ground in the shape of a circle and the soil became super fertile. It is so fertile that huge mushrooms now grow year after year."
     If you look at the picture below, you can actually see the dark green where the teepee had been many years ago along with the current mushroom crop. The stem of the mushrooms are at least one inch in diameter and you can see one upside down in the picture.

Historic Teepee Site

     That brings us to the end of Day Four. Mom is now in her final resting place and happy to be back near the farm where she was born. In fact, you can actually see the farm from the cemetery.

Mom's Final Resting Place

     Thank you all for the encouraging words you have said about Mom and her teaching.
     Stay tuned for Day Five...