Hintze Family: Memorial Day weekend pt. 3

When I was young, my mother took me to endless Memorial Day picnics at the homes of aunts that I didn’t know very well, with no children my age, with not much to do – in the town of Odessa, Washington, population 500 or so. I remember going to the cemetery to decorate graves, and watching the program, which usually included a 21 gun salute. I was generally bored, and probably had a bad attitude most of the day. But, the lessons were learned. Memorial Day, or Decoration Day, as she called it, was my Grandma Kitt’s favorite holiday. She loved for us to gather for the day. She died on Memorial Day in 1977.

I have come to love Memorial Day. I feel connected to my ancestors on this day. I try to make a point to make it to Malad, to decorate my parents grave. When Dad was alive, he and I and my kids met Lori and her kids in Malad and the three of us would decorate Mother’s grave. We’d picnic in the park by the old 2nd Ward building. Happily, our children are near each other in age, they had a great time together. Dad loved to sit a visit and pick out mums and such to make the grave lovely for the weekend.

Now that Dad has passed away, it seems to be harder to get to Malad for an afternoon. I know that they aren’t really there in the ground, just their bodies that they don’t need for the time being. But this year we made it to Malad on the way to Bear Lake. I dragged Frank and three of my children with me, we put mums on the headstone and took pictures and remembered how much fun it was to visit Grandpa and Grandma when they lived in their big old home there in Malad. We didn’t spent much time, but I’m glad we made the effort.

Yesterday we made the trek up the the Holladay cemetary to decorate Frank’s dad’s grave. As usual, Louise or Pauline beat us to it, when they went up to do their dad’s grave. They always put a few flowers in the Alan’s vase. Frank has to take some of their lovely flowers out of the vase to make room for ours. We sent Caleb to get a flag, and Frank washed down the headstone.

All of the flowers are from our own garden.

We walked across the way to Great Grandpa Ferdinand’s and his wives and Grandpa Henry and several other Hintzes. Frank bumped into a cousin that he’d not met before. Her father was Glenn, who was the youngest son of Ferdinand. She is a generation closer to Ferdinand, but seemed pretty near to Frank’s age. It was interesting to hear her talk about some of the ancestors.

Today was spent shaping up the yard. Frank edged and dug and planted. Caleb mowed and fixed several slats on the fence. Hannah, Bekah, and Dinah planted and weeded and watered. I got a blood blister on my hand! We had a very productive day. Jacob and Cori spent last night at our house so that Cori and Benjamin would be here when Jacob went golfing with his bosses. We had a great day with them.

Here are some pics of the end of the day!

Frank’s flower bed