Sometimes when grave hunting we come in contact with people… Be they grounds keepers, office staff, or people in the cemetery at a gravesite that has nothing to do with who were looking for… In regards to the office staff… For the most part they are helpful in various ways…
Other times when dealing with office staff they are not helpful at all this can be a little frustrating especially if the person your dealing with just strings you along and the outcome is obtaining no information at all (I’ve had this happen to me before)… Other times when dealing with them they will flat out tell you they wont disclose the location… In regards to the latter issue it would be best to just respect their wishes and not press them for more information if this happens there are many other ways to obtain the locations most commonly used is searching long and wide on the internet, conversing with grave hunting buddies, etc… I do know it can be a royal pain in the rear end when your not getting anywhere with the unhelpful staff…
Now in the case that they do disclose the location I always thank them for their time and helping me with research… The same goes for if your having a hard time locating a grave site on the cemetery grounds and you need the help of a grounds keeper always thank them and tell them you appreciate their help, etc…
Now one thing to ponder is sometimes you will come across people in the cemetery who are there tending to the grave sites of loved ones… My answer is respect their wishes and do not disturb them… Another scenario is when you come across a funeral burial in progress I would avoid that area for the time being especially if you are looking for a grave site in that general proximity… Because for one thing you should always have respect for these people and show a little “class”…
On a personal note I’ve come across people during my hunts who would be browsing a specific area in my searches… Sometimes they’d come up to you in a friendly manner and ask what your doing… I always tell them I’m just looking for a specific person to take a picture of usually they seem interested in this and then I’d tell them it has to do with history sometimes I’d mention other grave sites I’ve photographed in the past especially if that person was well known they’d really be intrigued by then lol…
In some cases if your grave hunting in a cemetery which is known to be the burial place of famous celebrities as the case in many Hollywood area cemeteries, or in a cemetery which is known to be the final resting place of a large number of gangsters… I’ve had interesting encounters of the latter grave hunting in Mt. Carmel Cemetery in Hillside, Illinois… Previous trips to Al Capone’s final resting place I’ve seen many people at his grave site… In one case I whipped out my camcorder and started recording, then started taking pictures… It was a fun experience…
So to summarize… Always be respectful, & thankful when dealing with people in the cemetery… In the case of dealing with unhelpful staff, and grounds keepers just ignore them… Because you probably have a whole list of graves to find and it would just waste your time and theirs if you kept dealing with them…
Recently I went over to Forest Lawn Cemetery located on Van Dyke Ave in Detroit. Due to this particular day being nice outside with the wind blowing, the sun shining and what not. I decided to pay homage to a local Vietnam War Medal of Honor Recipient. His name is Robert Leslie Poxon. You can find out more about him by checking out his Find A Grave profile. For your enjoyment I’ve included a few photos I took of his grave site. Also if you’d like to use these photos for your website its much appreciated and encouraged that you ask me if its ok. I’ll be more than happy to let you use the photos just as long as I and/or this blog get the credit to where you obtained the photos
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