Brother's Spirit From Grave Helps Kid Sister

This is Prairie Grove Cemetery in Fort Wayne, Indiana. A member of my family has been on the board for as long as we can remember. My Uncle Arthur was buried next to his wife and he had added his beloved sister, Violet's name, to the head stone, thereby saving her the cost. He was well off and financially savvy. He went so far as to fill in Aunt Vi's date of birth 1907--19 Leaving only the last two digits to be engraved. Who could imagine she would live into the year 2000? (Especially since her dead family members were calling her back so often, since I was 10, so she was 60) It was something we would laugh about. What if...? Sure enough it is 2009 and Aunt Vi is going strong.

A decade ago we began talking about how we would pay for the correction. Aunt Vi and my mom found out it was not cheap. On my one visit back to Ft Wayne, I took a photo of the headstone and ha ha, isn't this funny. I showed all my friends.

Then earlier this year, a cousin from Indiana calls and tells me the stone only has her birth year on it, AND she never heard or saw any other 19. I call the cemetery head, who I had spoken to about it some years earlier, cost involved, etc.---she denied ever seeing any such date or speaking to me about it. Uh-oh. What matter of sorcery was this? Had my brother fixed it? How nice of him. I called him, he never remembered any such engraving. (My brothers did not ride to the cemetery every week with Mom and Aunt Vi, as I had.) Uh-oh

Who could I ask? Aunt Vi couldn't hear me. Mom lost her memory. WAIT! I took a photo of it! I rummaged around until I found the...Holy Grave Yard!, there was my photo---no death date on it. Had I lost my mind? NO! We talked about it OFTEN over MANY years!!

This past month I have reconnected with Uncle Arthur's niece and she remembers! Whew. Sooo, how did the engraving change? I know. Barring, an unknown relatives intervention, I firmly believe Uncle Arthur took care of this for his kid sister. It is so HIM. (AND so HER)