Studio39Designs

 

Johnson Mesa Cemetery

Directly across the road from the church lies the cemetery, and reflects, for the most part, a taste of the past.  I slipped the latch keeping the gate closed, and when in to explore the memories there.  There were a few “modern” headstones, but for the most part, this sampling reflects a good example of the type of monuments I saw there.

Baby Bella

I guess the name Bella was popular back at the turn of the previous century, too.  Baby Bella died in 1897, the year that the church was dedicated.  Who knows?  Her funeral may have been the first in the then new church.  You can’t see it all that well in this image, but she was only 2 years old when she died.  Who knows why?  Maybe disease – I believe life would have been hard on the mesa back then.

Young Headstone

Another relatively short life – only 42 at her death.  You can’t tell from this image, but it was a woman’s headstone.  I purposefully focused on the rough texture of the headstone.  It makes me think that it may have been hand carved, given the time we were talking about, and the distance they were from any sort of larger town or city.

Remembrance

This was a very old monument – in fact, it was just a simple wooden cross.  I purposefully converted the image to primarily black & white, because the age of the cross made me feel like this was the only appropriate way to display it.  The colors of the flowers indicated that someone still cares about whoever is laid to rest there.  Altho the flowers were artificial, they were clean, so I’m guessing they were relatively new.

World War Headstone

I left this image as a color image because the field grasses and flowering weeds provided a nice contrast to the stark white headstone.  This headstone is of a service man, Roy Henry Butt, who died during one of the world wars.  I didn’t intrude on the grave to get more information.  It was enough to know he was in service when he died, protecting our country.  If you look closely at the lower right corner of the headstone, you can see an empty frame.  I’m guessing at one point, there was a photograph of some sort in the frame, but it is now long gone.

Overmyer Child

The saddest headstones are the ones of the young babies or children.  I had to photograph this grave and headstone from almost directly above it, because the headstone laid flat to the ground.  No dates are shown, which makes me wonder if this was perhaps a baby who died in childbirth.  The simple, wooden cross is almost breathtakingly poignant.

It seems almost disrespectful to end this post in my typical fashion, with the word “enjoy”, but to honor those in this cemetery, I will say…

“Enjoy the life given you”