This morning, we turned the horses out, settled the dogs, picked up Jane, and went on a visit to Bellefontaine Cemetery. Our friend, Jerry, is a Bellefontaine guide, but more importantly he was a very close friend of Pat Istwan for decades. Jane, too, loved Pat, so it was our chance to visit her, and also a chance to enjoy Jerry’s tour.
Jerry is a fascinating person with a wealth of unusual information, and he decided to take us on his usual tour in reverse, so we could end up at Pat’s grave. We started with the most famous resident of Bellefontaine, William Clark. Jerry knows everything about the Lewis and Clark expedition, and we learned so many interesting facts, our minds reeled, but we loved every minute.
Jerry 
Harry and William Clark 
Coins are left on Clark’s sculpture 
Clark was a Mason. The Masonic Hospital in Chicago took wonderful care of my brother, Matthew 
Jerry gave us each a rare Lewis and Clark commemorative nickel
Bellefontaine Cemetery and Arboretum is a beautiful place, and it was a perfect autumn day. We wandered amongst the graves, marveling at all the strange coincidences and stories of the residents. It is a peaceful and wonderfully aesthetic place. A nice place to rest after a life. Some short, some long and impressive, all at rest now.
Jerry is a marvelous storyteller 
We happened to pass the grave of one of my high school classmates 
Harry is always interested in the sculptures 
Acknowledging lives
Finally, we came to Pat’s resting place, near a beautiful lake, not unlike the lake at her farm in Rolla. One of the cemetery’s most interesting monuments is close by, a modern dramatic obelisk by William Conrad Severson. She is near a college friend of Jerry’s, and near several interesting people, including Irma Rombauer and Max Starkloff, as well as her family, of course. Her stone is not yet erected, but her memory is strong in all of us.
Jerry had one more grave to visit, next door in Calvary Cemetery, the Catholic cemetery. The wonderful thing about being with someone as well informed as Jerry is that he knows where everything is, and many fascinating facts to go with the people we visited. We stopped to see Lucie Huger’s grave. She was a force behind the Lewis and Clark sculpture on the St. Louis riverfront that Harry created. And so we came full circle, in a way, from Clark to the woman who insisted on a tribute to the Corps of Discovery Expedition.
Home again, we are appreciative of the time we have here. We are so fortunate to know Jerry (thanks to Pat) and to live here with many wonderful creatures who do not concern themselves with mortality.
The horses were contentedly grazing, as usual. I never tire of overlooking the pastures with happy horses.
In the barn, Rosie climbed down the ladder to greet me.
Birds were feeding on the back porch, a dove and a nuthatch.
And, of course, the dogs – what a motley crew! We are very lucky.
Stay safe, stay well, stay alive – in fact, or in memory.
I love your pictures of horses grazing! Collecting more reference material I am haha. Thank you for sharing your cemetery tour. It must be an amazing experience to travel among the dead guided by a storyteller biographer. “Stay safe, stay well, stay alive” —always good advice at galloping through. Peace
Now I want to go to the cemetery….. on a tour, that is! Thanks for the reminder of its beauty, accessibility and interest.
Peace and good health to all creatures.
Judi
A tour of Bellefontaine Cemetery with Jerry, how wonderful! I know how much he must love the place for I do something similar especially when visitors enjoy the horses that are buried at Old Friends Farm. Stories are so important, illustrative and colorful they bring the past to life.
I envy you all. The history in St. Louis is rich. Mr. Clark was a darn good looking man! Was it he that loved Sacagawea? He did bring Sacagawea’s family, husband and son to St. Louis. I wonder what Jerry knows about this information found on Wikipedia. And the horses in pasture, love your photos, Anne, as much as the many I pass while driving here in Kentucky. Life is good. The nuthatches are the cutest. The dogs perfect. The cats perfect. Thank you!
That Clark “loved” Sacagawea is good for romances, movies, etc. But nothing supports that. The family did come to St. Louis and the boy, Jean Baptiste Charboneau (nicknamed Pomp or Pompey) was left in Clark’s care. Some describe that Clark adopted the boy, but not in the sense we give that word today. More accurately, Clark took responsibility for the boy (who was around 4 or 5). Pomp never lived in the Clark house. Although Pomp was the youngest member of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, he was not the last to die. He is buried in an obscure grave in southeast Oregon.