We made a visit to Michigan Memorial to check on the graves. Grandma Judith had just been placed in her tomb and it can be seen when facing the “Graf” family graves. It is the first structure you see but her tomb is on the other side that you see (facing away). The graves looked fine for the most part and Aunt Peg’s picture on her grave still looks good. We did have to clear some growth from Uncle Raymond’s grave and if it continues we may have to ask them to raise it again.

You may notice a section of the wall has been removed, this was supposed to be for a stations of the cross section but they ran into some issues so for right now it is incomplete.

Michigan Memorial is still the prettiest cemetery that we have seen, although we have not seen all that many. The pond as you enter the facility is still the centerpiece and right across from the eternal flame memorial for the military.
Continue reading “2023 Maintaining the Family Graves” →

James’ Grandma (Judith Landis Lantz) was interred this day at Michigan Memorial Cemetery in Flat Rock Michigan. She is in a crypt about 50 yards from James’ other Grandparents who are buried along the wall in that area.

Judith was buried with her dolls, some of which she has had all her life, and James, Mom, and Olga (a friend of Grandma) laid out the dolls and other treasures of her in her crypt.

Judith died two weeks ago, she had made arrangements with the Neptune society for cremation upon her death which took about a week to complete. Michigan Memorial requires 72 hours notice so that took a few more days which is why it took two weeks to have her interred. Her friends Olga, Alice, and Dorothy were also present.

Afterwards we all went out to lunch together, it was a very pleasant time for everyone under the circumstances.
Continue reading “2023 Grandma Interred at Michigan Memorial Cemetery” →

We are still under the covid restrictions so we decided to visit Our Lady of Hope cemetery on Allen Road and visit Uncle Don, Aunt Mary Ann, and Cousin Mike. We attended all their funerals but never really visited them the same way we annually visit Michigan Memorial.

We requested a map with directions from the cemetery earlier in the year and the info they sent was good enough to get us in the ball park to find the graves. We took gps coordinates in case anyone else wants to visit, that way you should be able to get within about ten feet of the graves.

We did do a take out for food at Bone Yard so while we could not eat out, we ate the same food but had to eat in as the restaurants are not yet open.

Without a doubt this has been the strangest year. James school just sent out his final grades so he made the honor roll, or virtual honor roll, or whatever you call school now. James also passed his drivers ed class which was delayed for several months, however he cannot get his license till September because that is the earliest we could get an appointment for him. Continue reading “Memorial Day 2020” →

With the covid restrictions loosening up a bit we decided to do our annual trek to Michigan Memorial. We did not get flowers as they are probably not considered essential although we probably could have if we wanted to go through the hassle of masks and stuff.

We were happy to see flags at the veteran graves as we heard the boy scouts were no longer doing it, however Raymond did not get a flag and we all felt bad as we have many veterans in the family but he is the only one who did not return and was killed in action during WW2.

Pegs marker is finally in place, as its been almost a month since it came in, but I guess things move slowly at the cemetery. Pegs marker is the first one at least in this area that includes a picture, big thanks to cousins Ron and Renee who contributed the extra funds to make that picture possible. Our goal was to get the marker in place by Labor Day so that if the family wants to get together to view the marker we can.

I guess this officially closes the book on Aunt Pegs Funeral as everything has been taken care of that I know of. I think she would be happy with the arrangements made for her. Her marker is the closest to her mother Loretta which is something I know she would approve of.

Mothers day started off the same way as others, with a picture of James and his Mom in front of the house. We picked up some flowers at Kroger on the way to the cemetery, the weather fighting back rain constantly throughout the day made for a windy day with little annoying drops of water from time to time. However we did manage to get the flowers out. We did take pics of all the graves with flowers so mission accomplished despite the poor weather.

Next was the antique store in Flint, which had added an airplane with skeletons to their display, and only at a cost of 2,500 you too can have a crashed airplane in your living room.

Next stop was a visit to Grandma’s as today was James visits Grandma day. After dropping James off, Mom went to a couple more antique stores before we finally stopped in for Mothers Day dinner.

A great Mothers day despite the weather.

Continue reading “Mothers Day 2019” →

It seems like we just left Michigan Memorial after watching Peg being buried, but we felt that we had to go back because we wanted to check on the temporary marker that was purchased a few days earlier.

It was there so we felt good about that, but then realized we should have brought some of the flowers from the funeral home to the graveyard to place on the graves. Oh well, they will have to wait till Mothers day and Memorial day, but it will be extra sad this year because now Peg is out here. She used to be the one who really maintained the graves but now I guess that has been passed on to James and us.

Continue reading “Michigan Memorial Graves 2019” →

While placing flowers at our family graves a sax player was playing to some of the graves.

The weather held out for us and we were able to make Mothers day a special day. First we went to Michigan Memorial to lay flowers on the graves, we got flowers that were just ready to bloom so we are hoping they last more than a couple days like the ones in the past. James did the water part of the job and while we were doing it we heard someone serenading a grave with a sax, I don’t remember ever seeing that before. I snapped a video of it so maybe you can hear some of what we heard.

After Michigan Memorial we went to the antique store in Flat Rock, then on to Red Robins where we had a great Mothers day lunch. All in all a great day for Mom.

Continue reading “Mothers Day 2017” →

The weather was perfect this Mothers day. The day began with a trip to Michigan Memorial Cemetery where we put flowers on everyone’s grave. The flowers were so new that they had not bloomed yet so they should look pretty good all week. We were very pleased to see how well maintained Raymond’s grave was compared to in the past. After the flowers we went and ate lunch at Red Lobster where Mom got crab linguini, Dad got the sailors platter, and James got crab legs. The next stop was the antique store where Mom got to do a little shopping, followed by a trip to Dearborn Market for some flowers. All in all a real great day!

Continue reading “Mothers Day 2016” →