November 2013
Jo Ann: In Memoriam
On a spring day in May 1956, my mother received the dreaded call that her sister, Jo Ann, 
had passed away from injuries suffered in a tragic auto accident. Jo Ann was only 23. My 
Aunt Jo Ann was fair and pretty, and she used to visit and bring little gifts for each of us 
children. The funeral was quiet and tearful. Over 60 visitors paid their respects, but her family 
was unable to purchase a proper stone for her burial site. Time moved on.

A user submitted this touching story that we just had to share with you:

 

Fast forward 48 years. In 2003, my nephew Chris, after having had a conversation with my 
mother, his grandmother, about her sister Jo Ann's death, went in search of the grave site. He 
had taken an interest in the history of his great aunt who had died at such a young age. With 
the help of cemetery records, he located her plot unmarked and in the back section set aside 
for “singles,” meaning buried separately from any other family members, just a bare dusty 
spot.
In 2013, ten years later, one evening I received an email message from Chris inquiring about 
Jo Ann's history. It seems he had made contact with one of his clients who offered to carve 
out a stone for him at no cost, but he needed verification of birth and death dates as well as 
the correct spelling of the name. In 2011, after my mother's death, I had gone through her 
things for discarding and distributing to loved ones. I came upon a funeral memorial booklet, 
which turned out to be Jo Ann's. My mother had kept it all these years! I had then placed it 
into my mother's final memory box. With the information Chris needed, the monument maker 
engraved the stone as a thoughtful gesture to my nephew.
Chris took the stone to the cemetery last week for placement. And now, after 57 years from 
the date of burial, our dear Jo Ann has a memorial of remembrance, thanks to the honor and 
respect of a great nephew who never met her, but cared and took the time to show it. Chris 
said to me in a message, “It just stayed with me all those years, that she was there, without a 
stone, without a family, without a remembrance of any sort.”
I can't help but think my nephew was spirit-led in this selfless act of kindness.
 Becky
Becky Pelfrey Ramsay
Chris Rose (Nephew) permission given.

November 2013

 

Jo Ann: In Memoriam

 

 

On a spring day in May 1956, my mother received the dreaded call that her sister, Jo Ann, had passed away from injuries suffered in a tragic auto accident. Jo Ann was only 23. My Aunt Jo Ann was fair and pretty, and she used to visit and bring little gifts for each of us children. The funeral was quiet and tearful. Over 60 visitors paid their respects, but her family was unable to purchase a proper stone for her burial site. Time moved on.

 

Fast forward 48 years. In 2003, my nephew Chris, after having had a conversation with my mother, his grandmother, about her sister Jo Ann's death, went in search of the grave site. He had taken an interest in the history of his great aunt who had died at such a young age. With the help of cemetery records, he located her plot unmarked and in the back section set aside for “singles,” meaning buried separately from any other family members, just a bare dusty spot.

 

 

In 2013, ten years later, one evening I received an email message from Chris inquiring about Jo Ann's history. It seems he had made contact with one of his clients who offered to carve out a stone for him at no cost, but he needed verification of birth and death dates as well as the correct spelling of the name. In 2011, after my mother's death, I had gone through her things for discarding and distributing to loved ones. I came upon a funeral memorial booklet, which turned out to be Jo Ann's. My mother had kept it all these years! I had then placed it into my mother's final memory box. With the information Chris needed, the monument maker engraved the stone as a thoughtful gesture to my nephew.

 

Chris took the stone to the cemetery last week for placement. And now, after 57 years from the date of burial, our dear Jo Ann has a memorial of remembrance, thanks to the honor and respect of a great nephew who never met her, but cared and took the time to show it. Chris said to me in a message, “It just stayed with me all those years, that she was there, without a stone, without a family, without a remembrance of any sort.”

 

I can't help but think my nephew was spirit-led in this selfless act of kindness.

 

Becky

Becky Pelfrey Ramsay

 

Chris Rose (Nephew) permission given.