Elizabeth & Thomas - Together Again

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: Week 22 (AT THE CEMETERY)

When I looked at the prompt for this week I knew right away what I wanted to write about, but then I realized I had already written about this ancestor more than once. I pondered the challenge I signed up for, and realized it wasn't 52 DIFFERENT Ancestors in 52 Weeks. It's my blog so I get to make my own rules. 

I will focus on Elizabeth Young (nee Slicer) Thomson, my great grandmother, again. My dad called her Granny. She was known as Aunt Lizzie to her nieces and nephews.

I worked as an office administrator in a funeral home for 3 years where I learned a lot about cemeteries. I have spent a lot of time wandering around cemeteries. My best cemetery find doesn't belong to me ~ my husband gets all the credit.

In 2002 he was working in the Vancouver area, and agreed to go to Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Burnaby to look for my great grandmother's grave site. It took him two trips. On the first trip he searched for her site, and when he found it he cleaned it up. He also left the flowers I had asked him to bring. On his next trip he left more flowers, and was able to get me the perfect birthday present for my grandmother. It was a warm & sunny day. He was able to get me two rubbings of my great grandmother's grave marker. This one was grandma's. After she passed away my dad returned it to me. 

This grave marker rubbing was done in crayon. My grandmother was blind. She had lost her center vision to macular degeneration. Crayon was an ideal medium to use for this rubbing because my grandmother could feel the outlined edges of the headstone. She was able to read her mother's headstone with her fingertips. Had we used any other medium she wouldn't have been able to 'see' her mother's final resting place after so many years living away from British Columbia. My grandmother loved being able to visit her mother's graveside from her home in Manitoba.

Elizabeth is buried in Burnaby, British Columbia. 

My sons and I bringing flowers
visiting my great grandmother's grave site
Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada

Her husband, Thomas Thomson is buried in Calgary, Alberta. 

My cousin and her daughter bringing flowers
visiting our great grandfather's grave site
Burnsland Cemetery in Calgary, Alberta, Canada

     

They are so far apart. It is only symbolically that I am able to bring them back together again in this blog posting. 

May they rest in peace 

This is why I search - 

Cause ... 

You can pick your friends, but you can't pick your family you know!

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