In one rare episode on a day no one was to die, they had to do paperwork. Mountains of paper, one sheet for each person had to be sorted and recorded. The character of Daisy asked how were they to sort them, by first name or last. I agree with Ellen Muth's character's exasperated response to her that sorting by first name is the most ridiculous suggestion ever (but there are people that do it). Turns out they were to be sorted by "last words".
Well, that long intro was leading up to my interest in finding unusual epitaphs. Normally the epitaph is some flowery oftentimes forced rhyme, quote from a pop song or veiled threat that those of us living will soon be following them and should be prepared.
One of my favorites, I found at St. Michael's cemetery, which butts up against the back of Forest Hills in Jamaica Plain. Where Forest Hills is a vast rolling garden cemetery of many denominations, St. Michaels is clearly European in nature with uniform rows of closely placed stones and very Catholic. The stone read: "He never lived in the gray areas." I liked that because I tend towards the black and white in my life. But having read it, I was a little concerned that it might not be viewed all that positively by everyone.
Recently I found this one in Grove Cemetery in nearby Holden MA:
"Meet me in Heaven, she said." I imagine, perhaps too romantically, that these were her last words and that her lover was there at her bedside to hear them.
Simply put:
At Rest
Accepted
Fell Asleep
Edgell Grove Cemetery, Framingham, MA
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