Sheridan Cemetery Auburn Nebraska May 29th

This is a beautiful cemetery. It very well maintained and cared for. I parked along side the road and walked to the cemetery. The first thing I saw was a man sitting on the porch of the chapel with a bucket so I walked back to the van and grabbed my wallet. When I made my way to the chapel I dropped $5 in the bucket and I had the most interesting conversation. It is really nice to meet a fellow cemetery walker even if he is just devoted to one cemetery. We discussed the history and the lack of care people have. The city no longer takes care of this cemetery so an association was formed and it is this association that takes care of the cemetery. They recently took over the "Memorial Park."

That is one of my biggest complaints. I loathe "Memorial Parks." You stick a plaque on the ground and it will eventually sink into the dirt to disappear. We are going to have a lot of unmarked graves in the next 5 years or so. What the association is doing is digging up the plaques and creating a base for the plaques to prevent them from sinking into the ground. They convinced the city to allow monuments in the cemetery.  Which is GREAT!

I am going to begin explaining some of the symbolism found on the gravestone I have found.  

A prominent attorney in Auburn.

I believe this is a Woodman's of the World.

Stone balls in the cemetery are almost always decorative. But if they occur in a group of three they could be a reference to gifts or money like the three balls seen hovering over a pawn broker’s shop. The use of three balls to symbolize money comes from the legend of St. Nicholas of Myrna. I will agree with several people that a ball could symbolize eternity.

Calla Lily – The calla lily symbolizes majestic beauty and marriage.

Some of the chapels have "mounds" in the back.  That is where they put the caskets with the deceased inside during the winter.   The ground is to hard to dig, and they didn't have back hoes back then....

Epithets found in Sheridan Cemetery 

A round my senseless clay Assemble those I love, And sing of heaven, delightful heaven, My glorious home above

~~~~~~~~~~

Dear Wife, Dear Mother Sleep thou in peace serene.

In some celestial vision rapt you seem. Oh, take me with you, love, into your dream! Wake not, but let me rest in love supreme