A Wonderful Time

A WONDERFUL TIME

I have a collection of humorous and poignant epitaphs and tombstone
verses. Not because I am morbid, but because what is said about
someone who has recently died is so important. Granted, not all
tombstone sayings are telling. Like the one for Lester Moore at Boot
Hill Cemetery in Tombstone, Arizona:

Here lies Lester Moore
Four slugs from a 44
No Les
No More.

Or this grave marker from Uniontown, Pennsylvania:

Here lies the body of Jonathan Blake
Stepped on the gas
Instead of the brake.

Sometimes these "last words" reveal more than the deceased may have
wanted, like this one:

Here lies a fellow who lived for himself
And cared for nothing
But gathering pelf,
Now, where he is or how he fares,
Nobody knows and nobody cares.

These posthumous writings will often summarize a life. If accurate,
they can point the reader to that which was most important to the
deceased. Did this person enjoy life? Was she cared for? Did he make a
difference? Did she leave a legacy?

When you die, how will you be remembered?

Columnist Nick Clooney in NICK: Collected Columns of Nick Clooney
(Irena Hochman Fine Art Ltd., 1997) printed some epitaphs from people
still alive, written by themselves. Some were humorous, some serious.
Some hoped that their own original epitaph would be close to the way
they might be remembered. One that I truly love came from Charlie
Mechem, former head of Taft Broadcasting. Charlie wished that this
might be put on his tombstone:

"Dear God,
Thanks for letting me visit.
I had a wonderful time."

Isn