Keller Family History: Cemeteries

This page will undoubtedly undergo many revisions, so I'm letting you know ahead of time! I'm not exactly sure how I want it to look, so it will be a work in progress for a while. I will have a section about each cemetery I visit, with photos of markers and stones of the people buried there. If I do a rubbing of a particular stone, I will post a picture of that, too. So...here goes!

Pleasant Hills Cemetery, Sebastopol, CA

My parents are buried here, as well as my Mom's parents. It is a lovely cemetery, and a nice drive through the country to get there. There is an older section at the back, unfortunately not as well maintained as the rest, that dates back to the 1700s. We had to push past bushes and branches, and wade through weeds. I was taking an online class on cemetery research at the time of this visit, so I needed to get some photos from "the old folks'" section. I have visited this area many times, and when I used to take my kids we always had to go say hello to the Linebaugh family. They have a very large memorial to the father and his two wives (not at the same time, and both named Mary!), with smaller plates set out for all of their children. Quite impressive!

My parents:

The rubbing we did (my friend Deb helped!):

When Deb saw this picture she said, "Oh, I was talking to them! Hello Barbara and Jack? I just have to give you an update..." She is sooooo cute!

My grandparents:

Golden Gate National Cemetery, San Bruno, CA

My Dad's father, Ray Keller, is buried here. As I said in my Illinois Roots page, I only recently found out information about this grandfather. I was looking forward to visiting his grave, and "meeting" him. I was not at all prepared for the overwhelming emotion that swept over me - anger, grief, joy - and even now as I am writing I find my eyes welling up and my emotions rising. I will go back again, and hopefully be a little less crazy. So, without further ado, my grandfather, Ray Keller:

The photo I took of the rubbing I did on his stone is not very good, but I will attach it for now, until I get a better copy.

That is it for now. Tomorrow (Sept. 19, 2011) I leave for Illinois, and there will be many additions to this page!

Springdale Cemetery, Peoria Illinois

Here I was supposed to find my grandmother, Louise Winter Keller, and her mother, Elizabeth Schwinn Winter. After much searching, and speaking with cemetery staff, I discovered that both were buried here, but neither has a headstone. There were headstones for Elizabeth's brothers and cousin, so here they are.