I have been a genealogy hobbyist since 1983, after helping my son to complete a Cub Scout family history requirement for his Bear rank.

My attraction for cemeteries goes back to 1975, where I spent much of my time in the North Clayton Jaycees putting projects together to locate, clean and restore overgrown and forgotten cemeteries so that the families could again have access to their resting loved ones.

An extension to this marriage of history and cemeteries is my more recent interest in the iconography found in funerary art, such as markers and memorials. Every leaf, flower, cross, hand, animal, cut and design tells a part of the life story of the one below. My wife and I enjoy leisurely walks through old cemeteries, where we are always amazed to see the care and attention paid to telling the life story of a loved one for future observers such as ourselves.

We learn so much of the real history and the people who built our communities as we read the hidden stories of their lives. We can discern the concerns that demanded their time and truly formed their character by the challenges they took to heart and devoted themselves to overcome. The causes they took up, or the fight they chose to join: it's all told in the icons of their final statement to the world.

I have been a genealogy hobbyist since 1983, after helping my son to complete a Cub Scout family history requirement for his Bear rank.

My attraction for cemeteries goes back to 1975, where I spent much of my time in the North Clayton Jaycees putting projects together to locate, clean and restore overgrown and forgotten cemeteries so that the families could again have access to their resting loved ones.

An extension to this marriage of history and cemeteries is my more recent interest in the iconography found in funerary art, such as markers and memorials. Every leaf, flower, cross, hand, animal, cut and design tells a part of the life story of the one below. My wife and I enjoy leisurely walks through old cemeteries, where we are always amazed to see the care and attention paid to telling the life story of a loved one for future observers such as ourselves.

We learn so much of the real history and the people who built our communities as we read the hidden stories of their lives. We can discern the concerns that demanded their time and truly formed their character by the challenges they took to heart and devoted themselves to overcome. The causes they took up, or the fight they chose to join: it's all told in the icons of their final statement to the world.