Every year on Memorial Day my Mom visits the Cottonwood Cemetery
where her parents and sister are buried. This year I invited myself
to go along. She'd been there a few days earlier to place potted flowers
around the graves, so on Monday we went together to pick them up, refresh my
fading memories, and take some pictures.
I first went to the Moscow Cemetery, hoping to catch the
flag-raisers. Seems like they didn't have as many volunteers this
year, which made me realize that next year I should help out instead
of just wandering around with a camera.
Next we went to Cottonwood where four generations from my Mom's
family are buried. Then we drove through the town to have a look
at the old family house. We talked about how there are no direct
relatives living there anymore, how Cottonwood is changing, where
the City Electric shop used to be, and so on.
Then we visited Dad's hometown of Greencreek. I enjoyed hearing
about how, back then, it was a big deal to drive all the way
to Cottonwood (about 7 miles away). They might see each other only
once a week when dating. After seeing the Wessels relatives in the
Greencreek Cemetery, we drove past Harry and Tillie's old farm house
before heading home.
I'm trying something different with the pictures this time. You can click on them to enlarge and then use arrow keys to go back and forth.
This is at the Moscow Cemetery. Not a relative, I just like the looks of this old headstone in the morning light.
My Aunt Carole's headstone.
Grandma and Grandpa, Stan and Bertha.
Great grandparents, August and Lena.
Great-great grandparents, August and Mary. The first Kopczynski's on the Camas Prairie. They were both originally from an area that is now Poland, met and married in Chicago, moved to Kansas, and then eventually to Cottonwood.
Idaho soldier William Bies at the Cottonwood Cemetery.
Mom remembers that her great grandfather, Georg Seubert (Lena's father), donated the original land for the Cottonwood Cemetery. It appears to be carved out of the adjacent field.
Grandparents, Harry and Tillie at the Greencreek Cemetery.
My Dad's brother, Teddy, drowned at age 22.
Great Grandparents, Herman and Bernadine.
The Greencreek Cemetery has a wonderful view of the town and surrounding area.
This large sign in Greencreek shows the names and distances to the surrounding residents and their farms. The top board difficult to read, but it says Elmer Wessels. He is my Dad's cousin and has a house just across from this sign. I've written about Elmer and his family's honey before.
St. Anthony's Catholic Church in Greencreek, ID.
This is the little farm a few miles out of town where my Dad's family lived for many years. I do believe I found it on google maps.
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About this Entry
This page contains a single entry by Duane published on May 28, 2012 12:00 PM.
