Tombstone Tuesday: WEAVER, Alvina Maria

In Loving Memory
Alvina Maria Weave
 1878 - 1961
Rest in Peace

Holy Trinity Anglican Cemetery, Sturgeon Valley, R.M. of Shellbrook No. 493, SK, CAN.

Tombstone Tuesday: HENDERSON, Ralph

In Loving Memory
Ralph Henderson
1857 - 1924
At Rest

Holy Trinity Anglican Cemetery, Sturgeon Valley, R.M. of Shellbook No. 493, SK, CAN.

Tombstone Tuesday: BRUCE, George

George Bruce
1916 - 2007
Age [?]

Holy Trinity Anglican Cemetery, Sturgeon Valley, R.M. of Shellbrook No. 394, SK, CAN.

Tombstone Tuesday: WEAVER, May

May Weaver
1903 - 1990

Holy Trinity Anglican Cemetery, Sturgeon Valley, R.M. of Shellbrook No. 493, SK, CAN.

Pecans In The Cemetery

I was introduced to the joke at Sleeping Gardens: and other final resting places... The original source appears unknown but may have been a chain-mail email.

On the outskirts of a small town, there was a big, old pecan tree just inside the cemetery fence. One day, two boys filled up a bucketful of nuts and sat down by the tree, out of sight, and began dividing the nuts.

"One for you, one for me. One for you, one for me," said one boy.

Several dropped and rolled down toward the fence.

Another boy came riding along the road on his bicycle. As he passed, he thought he heard voices from inside the cemetery. He slowed down to investigate. Sure enough, he heard, "One for you, one for me. One for you, one for me."

He just knew what it was. He jumped back on his bike and rode off.

Just around the bend he met an old man with a cane, hobbling along.

"Come here quick," said the boy, "you won't believe what I heard! Satan and the Lord are down at the cemetery dividing up the souls."

The man said, "Beat it kid, can't you see it's hard for me to walk." When the boy insisted though, the man hobbled slowly to the cemetery.

Standing by the fence they heard, "One for you, one for me. One for you, one for me."

The old man whispered, "Boy, you've been tellin' me the truth. Let's see if we can see the Lord."

Shaking with fear, they peered through the fence, yet were still unable to see anything. The old man and the boy gripped the wrought iron bars of the fence tighter and tighter as they tried to get a glimpse of the Lord.

At last they heard, "One for you, one for me. That's all. Now let's go get those nuts by the fence and we'll be done."

They say the old man made it back to town a full 5 minutes ahead of the kid on the bike.

Foxdale Cemetery History Excerpt

The following is an excerpt regarding the Foxdale district cemetery from Our Harvest of Memories, a locally compiled history book:

The Foxdale Cemetery

The people of Foxdale decided there was a need of a cemetery so a committe was formed. The land was obtained from Mr. Dick Coles. The land was fenced, planted with grass and tress. Flowers were planted all around the front. A committe was elected E. Earby, F. Strube, and R. A. Coles.

Bill Henderson was appointed to care for it.

The plots were marked and sold. The centre was laid out for a little chapel. An arch was made by Mr. Edwin Earby Sr. for the gate. The name chosen by Mrs. Earby Sr. was "St. John's Cemetery". This and the date was painted on the arch. This was later knocked down with a truck rack and never replaced.

The first resident laid to rest was Mrs. Hecker. Since then many residents have been laid to rest there. Mr. Bruce Henry now has the paper and the Ladies' Club look after the up keep of the cemetery.

Residents laid to rest here are:

March, 1939 -- Mrs. M. Hecker
May, 1939 -- Mr. H. Henderson
November, 1938 -- Mr. J. Kurz (moved later from Sturgeon River)
February, 1941 -- Mr. E. Clausen
May, 1944 -- Mr. T. Henderson
January, 1948 -- Mr. E. Terrel
May, 1948 -- Mr. F. Winkler
March, 1954 -- Mr. P. Wall
November, 1962 -- Mrs. M. Henderson
July, 1964 -- Mr. D. L. Coles
December, 1969 -- Mr. W. Henderson
July, 1970 -- Mrs. M. Wall
May, 1975 -- Mr. G. D. Gunn
November, 1977 -- Miss J. Henderson
March, 1978 -- Mrs. F. Coles
May, 1978 -- Mr. R. Lovgren
April, 1980 -- Heather Fay Coles
August, 1981 -- Mrs. A. Kurz
January, 1982 -- Kelly Muller
June, 1982 -- Mr. E. Schmidt

Mr. Dick Coles and R. A. Coles is more precisely Mr. Richard "Dick" Alexander Coles and the land was obtained in 1938 from him. F. Strube was Fritz Strube. Mrs. Earby Sr. was born Martha Johnson.

During my visit to the Foxdale Cemetery 6 September 2009, I found markers for everyone except Mrs. M. Hecker. But noticeably, it was only the eastern side of the cemetery had any grave markers. So while the cemetery is a good acre in size, it seems only a quarter of the space has been used when judging by the 30 grave markers.

Source: Coles, Cathy, ed. "The Foxdale Cemetery." Our Harvest of Memories: Foxdale, Sturgeon Valley, Silver Cliff, Three Creeks, Rayside, Rich Valley. Shellbrook, SK: Shell River North Book Committee, 1983. pp. 32-33.