The Art and Architecture of Death
Stanley Zaksesks died in 1920 when he was eleven or twelve years old. Perhaps his father worked in the construction business; this monument appears to have been cast in concrete. The name and date are painted.
A fairly large cross for a seventeen-year-old whose family perhaps could not afford a professional monument. Note the one attempt at decoration: a small sun pattern (or something) at the top.
A tall cross with fine carving and a bit of Art Deco flair for two rectors of St. Ann’s (note the spelling; the parish is now called St. Anne).
REV.
CHARLES HIPP
RECTOR OF ST. ANN’S
CHURCH 1907–1918
BORN OCT. 9, 1887
ORDAINED
MAY S6, 1899
DIED NOV. 7, 1918
REV.
JOSEPH V. GEROLD
RECTOR OF ST. ANN’S
CHURCH 1918–1929
BORN AUG. 19, 1876
ORDAINED
JULY 4, 1901
DIED SEPT. 21, 1929
Two of these mass-produced iron crucifixes from the 1880s can be found in St. Peter’s Cemetery [Correction: After another walk through the cemetery, we have found at least four]. Their weakness as monuments is that the individualized letters fall off, though “Hier ruhet” is molded in the metal and perfectly legible. Fortunately there are other Amrheins buried in the same plot with legible stone monuments, so we can be confident that the letters AMR---I- represent AMRHEIN. The first name (-ACK-B) is probably Jackob. The birth and death dates are also illegible, though we can make out the decade of death as 188-.
The epitaph is perfectly legible, because it is cut in a stone base:
Ruhe sanft in deiner Gruft
bis dich Jesus wieder ruft.
Rest softly in your grave
till Jesus calls you again.
A cross of lilies, making a fine symbol of Jesus’ redemptive death (the cross) and resurrection (the lilies). It was probably put up about 1918, when Hermann Laub was buried in this plot.
A striking monument from about 1879 (when the first Glockner in this plot died), with the slightly chunky-looking details typical of the era.
An ornate Celtic cross, probably put up in 1951 when John Evon Nelson died. Celtic crosses became popular in the late 1800s, promoted especially by the Tiffany Glass & Decorating Co., and they have remained a popular niche item ever since.
A rustic stone cross with a very good flower-dropping angel standing on a rock, and the family name spelled out in twigs on the base. It probably dates from about 1905, when John Yunker was buried here.
“Sossong” is not a very common name, yet in this small cemetery in Glendale (Scott Township) there are at least four different Sossong family plots. It must have been a large interconnected group of cousins. This particular plot has a marble angel as its guardian, possibly erected in 1893 when Philipp Sossong died. The angel is well preserved, though the left hand and part of the scroll with the family name are missing.
The Sossongs’ descendants still keep up this plot, and all the Sossongs buried here have relatively recent granite headstones, possibly to replace inscriptions that became illegible. One of them was a priest, Fr. William B. Sossong, who was born in 1891, but for whom no death date has been filled in.
Old Pa Pitt liked this angel well enough to come twice in the same day and photograph it in two different lights. That is how dedicated he is to bringing you the finest possible illustrations.