Saturday, October 3, 2009

cemetery sleuthing

After leaving Heather at BYU-Idaho, I decided to drive around the countryside and go visit my grandparents' gravesites. Both my parents were raised not far from Rexburg. My mom's parents, Walter and Velma Siddoway lived on a farm just outside the village of Teton and were buried in the Teton Cemetery. This little cemetery is located away from the little town itself, out in the middle of farm land. Once I located the cemetery, I had to tromp around a bit to find "Grammie and Grandad." And suddenly, there they were. We had a nice chat.

My dad's parents (Davidsons) farmed on what is called Egin Bench. They were buried in nearby Parker. So, it was off to Parker, to find my Davidson grandparents. I was less sure how to get there, but found a sign:

Parker is literally a curve in the road with a grade school, a post office, and a cluster of houses.

The Parker cemetery is right next to the highway, near the elementary school and the post office. Parker people must want to be able to visit their kin more easily than do Teton people. The cemetery straddles a little hill. I remember standing there when we buried my grandfather--the wind was blowing as we gathered around and laid him to rest. My notion of what things were important made a major shift that day... On this day, I had to tromp around a long time to find "Grandma and Grandpa." Then suddenly, there they were. We had a nice chat, too.


My most interesting find of the day was a couple of headstones in Chinese! I wondered: Who were these people? How did they come to be here in Parker, Idaho? Do they still have family here? Does anyone know they were here?


Anyone read Chinese?

2 comments:

LeaAnne said...

I really love that you did this Kath! :) I know it was a great adventure ! :)

Ging said...

How sweet this post is. Thanks for sharing.