Need some help with a headstone...

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Splintercat
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Need some help with a headstone...

Post by Splintercat » December 31st, 2013, 12:00 am

...doing some research on George Shepperd (as in Shepperd's Dell) and found his wife's headstone the other day at the Bridal Veil cemetery:

Image

What puzzled me was the freeform inscription at the base of the headstone -- I'm having trouble making it out (and I left the moss in place at the bottom on purpose -- didn't want to alter it without a good reason):

Image

Here's what I have:

One by one earth's ties are
broken
__________ decay
and the _______ so fondly
she_______
________to bless (?)_______


...anyone able to read more?

Tom

Lurch
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Re: Need some help with a headstone...

Post by Lurch » December 31st, 2013, 2:15 am

One by one earth’s ties are broken, as we see our love decay, and the hope so fondly cherished brighten but to pass away.

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Chase
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Re: Need some help with a headstone...

Post by Chase » December 31st, 2013, 4:10 am

"101 Beautiful Epitaph Examples"

http://www.svmemorials.com/?page_id=73

#64

I guess there's even more to it sometimes.

Not beautiful at all, if you ask me. We could start a whole thread on better epitaphs...

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Re: Need some help with a headstone...

Post by Lurch » December 31st, 2013, 11:49 am

Live hard, die fast, leave a mangled corpse behind?

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retired jerry
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Re: Need some help with a headstone...

Post by retired jerry » December 31st, 2013, 12:25 pm

okay, how did you figure that out Lurch?

superior eyesight and visual processing in your brain?

Karl-like processing of the picture?

familiarity with the saying?

superior Googling skills?

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BrianEdwards
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Re: Need some help with a headstone...

Post by BrianEdwards » December 31st, 2013, 3:31 pm

Or maybe RobFromRedland's signature :)
Clackamas River Waterfall Project - 95 Documented, 18 to go.

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RobFromRedland
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Re: Need some help with a headstone...

Post by RobFromRedland » December 31st, 2013, 5:09 pm

BrianEdwards wrote:Or maybe RobFromRedland's signature :)
What are you pickin' on me for? :D :lol:

I got that saying from someone I used to work with, and I really like its attitude.....
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well-preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming: WOW! What a ride! - Hunter S. Thompson

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Re: Need some help with a headstone...

Post by BrianEdwards » December 31st, 2013, 5:38 pm

It was just too perfect :D
Clackamas River Waterfall Project - 95 Documented, 18 to go.

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Splintercat
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Re: Need some help with a headstone...

Post by Splintercat » December 31st, 2013, 6:29 pm

Brilliant! Thanks for the help -- though I'm still wrapping my head around the people were picking headstone inscriptions from a CATALOG way back in 1903..! So much for my romanticized view..! :lol: Thanks for that link, Chase... I kinda like No. 100, myself... :D

The best part is that I won't need to disturb the moss that has done such a nice job of decorating this memorial. Thanks, everyone!

-Tom :)

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Splintercat
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Re: Need some help with a headstone...

Post by Splintercat » December 31st, 2013, 6:36 pm

@ Chase: so, now you've got me thinking about that last part -- in italics, below -- and whether it might be continued on the opposite side of the monument..?
One by one earth’s ties are broken, as we see our love decay, and the hope so fondly cherished brighten but to pass away. One by one our hopes grow brighter as we near the shining shore, for we know across the river wait the loved ones gone before.
I'll have to check next time I'm up there. Definitely no room on this side of the monument, which makes me wonder if the gravestone maker had an "Oh, ####!" moment after realizing he was running long on the first line... ends up eating up two extra lines in what looks like a freeform inscription..! Or maybe an intern was working that day...? ;)

-Tom :)

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