A Summer Walk Among My Progenitors

Yep, it's another graveyard visit for our little family. This time we were on a quest for relatives in the St. George cemetery, most specifically, that of my grandma on my dad's side, who died back in 2001. After a bit of searching we finally found the plot, and had the pleasure of visiting the final resting places of some of my direct relatives who helped to settle Utah's Dixie. I really like the picture of Zoe in the middle of the cemetery with the trademark St. George red hills in the background. Boy was it a hot day...I often wonder why I always end up in St. George in the summertime.

Here's a 5-generation shot with my dad and daughter, along with dad's mom, Erma, and dad's grandpa, Wilford Woodruff. About two months ago my grandpa Rudger passed away. That's his headstone on the right, with the date of death still as blank as can be. How strange it is that I was writing about the St. George cemetary at the same time period that Grandpa Rudger died. I'm so glad that Sara and I went to visit him a year before he passed away. When I finally get to the pictures of Rudger's funeral I'll have plenty more to say, I'm sure.

This is Zoe spending a bit of quality time with the great granmother she never knew. I'm very sad to say that I never really knew her as much as I would have liked either, since my mom's mom died when I was only 11 years old. I wonder if we should have given Zoe the middle name Lilly in her honour. Zoe Lilly is kind of a mouthful.

Here's the headstone marking the grave of Daniel D. McArthur, one of the original settlers of St. George, Utah and the surrounding area. Daniel D. led the second handcart company that entered the Salt Lake Valley, and is generally thought of as the biggest stud among all my forefathers. Do you see any family resemblance? Yep, same classic family scowl. I guess we should be relieved that the scowl survived the passing generations instead of the scraggly beard.