A Memorial Day visit

When we were in Virginia, and visited my parent's gravesite, we discussed where Carl's father was buried, and decided that we should try to go there and visit while in Illinois. It turned out that the day we chose to go was Memorial Day, a good day to visit the cemetery. 

Carl's father, as well as his father's parents, are buried at Mount Emblem Cemetery in the northeast part of Elmhurst, Illinois.

Entry to the cemetery -- barely visible is the windmill that makes the location distinct.

At the entry to the cemetery, there was an awning with a lady handing out flags and roses for us to decorate the graves on Memorial Day.

Carl thought he might be able to remember where his father's grave was located, but since it had been 30 years since he had last been here, after a short time of driving around, he decided to go to the administration building for help.

The administration building is located next to the windmill. The lady in the administration building was able to look up his father and grandparents, find out where their grave sites were, and give us maps to help to find them.

Overview of the cemetery and driving directions to the correct areas of the cemetery

Carl's father was buried in the Veneration area. There were round cemetery markers at the ends of the rows that we could find in the grass, and then walk down the row to find his marker. (For future reference: site 456 on row 55/56.)

Carl's grandparents were in the Twilight section. (For future reference, site 1928 on row 89/90.)

We were also able to pick up an additional flag at the Administration Building.

We found Carl's father's marker pretty easily. There were some plants starting to overgrow it on the edges that we cleared off as best we could (we should have brought gardening tools to help).

We put one of the flags that we had been given on Carl's father's grave site. His father had been in the Army in World War II.

Carl at his Dad's grave site

We had a harder time in the Twilight section finding the numbered markers at the ends of the rows. We thought we were close, and Carl walked one row while I walked another, looking over to the next row too, but we walked the whole length of the section without finding the grave sites of Carl's grandparents. We went to the other end and easily found the numbered marker -- we had walked the right row, but somehow missed finding their grave markers. So, we walked that row again, looking more carefully. This time, we noticed that some of the markers were covered by debris...

... like this...

... and when we cleaned it off a little, we found Carl's grandparent's grave stones. This is his grandfather's; it is interesting that only the year of birth and death are shown, not the month and day. The emblem is of the Masonic square and compasses.

Carl placing the flag at his Grandpa's grave. His grandfather had served in World War I, but that was not noted on the stone.

We put the rose that we had been given on Carl's Grandma's grave. The emblem on her stone is the Eastern Star, a Masonic appendant body.

Now their two grave stones have been cleaned off.

Carl at his grandparent's graves.

Looking across the section where they are buried

We were glad that we had chosen Memorial Day to make this visit.