Memorial Day 2011

This weekend I made the annual, traditional trek to visit cemeteries.  Growing up, our family always went to the cemetery to lay flowers on my grandfather's grave.  It was always a game between my sister, brother and I to see who could find grandpa first.

I drove east to Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills to lay flowers at my mother's resting place.  A truly beautiful park.  She's been gone almost 14 years.  Her tablet says:



Mom is in the 2nd row from the top



BERNICE J. FICARRA

DEC. 1, 1926 - OCT. 7, 1997

BELOVED MOM AND GRANDMA



Unfortunately, little did we realize at the time of picking out the wording for her tablet, that the tablet would be in the second row from the top of the wall.  We can only read it using binoculars.  I've yet to get a decent close-up photo.  To place the flowers next to her tablet I had to get a telescoping pole, balance the little vase (hoping the whole time the water in the vase wouldn't spill down onto my upturned face), and hook the vase to the little "button" sticking out of the wall.  Mission accomplished!

My second cemetery stop was further east to Rose Hills Memorial Park in Whittier, CA.  Here is where my grandma Jennie (we always called her Jean), and our aunt Dorothy are buried next to each other.  This park is also beautiful. 

Jennie is my mother's mother.  The reason grandma has the same last name as my mom is because my mother's parents (Henry and Jennie) divorced and my father's parents (Philip and Angie) divorced. 
Grandma Jean met and married my father's father (Philip).  That is how my parent's met each other.

One year I came to visit the park and I couldn't locate them.  The lawn had been recently mowed and most of the headstones were covered with grass.  I located them the next year.

Aunt Dorothy is my mother's sister.