to visit graveyards! Momma, the twins and I went on a graveyard jaunt that lasted almost all day yesterday and we actually had a great time. The boys got a chance to talk with people from the cemetery offices about the different types of genealogy records they have available (working toward their Genealogy Merit Badges) and I now know where to go to visit all of my (great) grandparents. Well, sort of! Some of those places are so big with winding hills up and down that I know I’m going to get lost which is why I wrote down directions to each in a notebook. I’ve promised Momma that I will continue to place flowers on all of the graves after she and Daddy are gone. Momma and Daddy are going to be cremated with my sister, Colleen, being the “keeper of the urns” so all I’ll have to do is visit Col to visit them.  *smile*

Cade actually had us all laughing at a couple of comments that he made on Momma’s ashes…after his Grammie explained to him that she wasn’t going to be buried but rather she was going to have her ashes placed in an urn he stated that it “would take a long time for her to turn to ashes,” not realizing that she would have to be cremated first. Later that day, while the twins and I were waiting in one of the offices for information, he asked me why Grammie wanted to be cremated and I told him that just because Grammie was gone there was no reason why Aunt Colleen couldn’t still take her shopping with her. He looked horrified. *smile*

We visited both paternal and maternal grandparents, Daddy’s paternal grandparents, (Oma and Opa) Chris and Sophia Foster, and Momma’s maternal grandparents, (Nae and Pap) Agnes and James Donnelly. (Quinn’s named after Pap, his middle name is Donnelly.) Momma had told me that there were more than Nae and Pap in the graves because Nae was good hearted and if someone in the family couldn’t afford to be buried she and Pap would pay for them to open the graves but even she was surprised at how many people were buried in the Donnelly family grave…Nine including Nae and Pap!!!! Pap’s mother Rusha Donnelly is buried there along with two of Pap’s brothers, Walter and William, Nae’s oldest son Tommy from her marriage to Thomas Diven and who died before Nae did, Nae and Pap’s daughter Gloria who died as a little baby and Nae’s oldest daughter Ruth, her daughter Colleen Vinyard, who died as a young child, is also there along with a “baby” Vinyard that Momma had no knowledge of.

I also want to visit Nae’s father, Thomas Ephraim Nash’s grave which is located in St. Mary’s Cemetery. Momma has his cemetery lot papers and after some exploring online I found mention of what I think is his grave though they have it listed as Lewis E. Nash. The wrong photo is attached to it so I can’t verify online. I’m hoping to be able to make it there either today or next week so I can talk with the people from the office and see and photograph the headstone. Tracing our family history has become an interesting challenge…and it’s definitely addicting! *smile*