Tombstones I Have Known

Uncle Tom Allen once told me that every time you speak a name of someone deceased somewhere, somehow they feel it and it makes them feel good. My mother had a hobby of clipping obituaries out of newspapers, which she started before I was ever born. She said that they made her laugh and they made her cry. They gave her strength during trying times. After I was born, I too took up the hobby and later in life began to share some of the old epitaphs with friends. This book is a collection of those obituaries, witty epitaphs and a list of where famous people are buried. Later, I wrote newspaper articles and shared with my readers some of these old epitaphs. They wrote me letters telling me how they enjoyed them. Later, I sent copies to friends in the hospital and nursing homes. They told me it cheered them up. So, I decided to write this book to prove that there is some wit in death. It will make you laugh, cry and feel good!

It will make you laugh, cry and feel good!

Of all victims of Nazi persecution, German Jews had to suffer the Nazi yoke for the longest time. Throughout the Third Reich, they were exposed to anti-Jewish propaganda, discrimination, anti-Semitic laws and increasingly to outrages and offences by non-Jewish Germans. While the International Military Tribunal and the subsequent American Military Tribunals at Nuremberg dealt with a variety of Nazi crimes according to international law, these courts did not consider themselves cognizant in adjudicating wrongdoings against German citizens and those who lost German citizenship based on the so-called “Nuremberg laws,” such as Germany’s Jews. Until recently, scholarship failed to explore this task of the German judiciary in more detail. Edith Raim fills this gap by showing the extent of the crimes committed against Jews beyond the traditionally known facts and by elucidating how the West German administration of justice was reconstructed under Allied supervision.

This book relates the stories and describes the memorials of the people buried in Shelby, North Carolina's historic Sunset Cemetery, a microcosm of the Southeastern United States. The authors, an academic and a journalist, detail the lives and memories of people who are buried here, from Civil War soldiers to those who created the Jim Crow South and promoted the narrative of the Lost Cause. Featured are authors W.J. Cash and Thomas Dixon, whose racist novel was the basis for The Birth of a Nation. Drawn from historical research and local memory, it includes the tales of musicians Don Gibson and Bobby "Pepper Head" London, as well as a paratrooper who died in the Battle of the Bulge and other ordinary folks who rest in the cemetery. A bigger responsibility is to give a voice to the silenced, enslaved people of color buried in unmarked graves. Cemeteries are sacred places where artistry and memory meet--to understand, we need both the tales and the tombstones.

Since it was chartered in 1857, Salem Cemetery reflects the personal taste and imagination of individuals who designed their family plots, vaults, and markers. A walk along the winding paths, noting names on markers and vaults, is a walk through the city's history, recalling the people who lived, labored, and loved here.