June 20: Colma
Dear Friends and Relatives,
This morning was a bright and sunny day as well as a little warmer than it had been. Maureen made scrambled eggs, bacon, and English muffins, while I started to pack. That took a while, and Maureen had lent me a few things like rain jackets and a sweatshirt, so all that had to be sorted out as well.
By the time all that had been done, we decided to drive to Colma, a small incorporated town in San Mateo, on the SF Peninsula in the SF Bay area. The population, in 2010, was almost 1,800. It was founded as a necropolis in 1924, and as a result there were more than the usual Art Deco grave ornaments. With most of Colma’s land dedicated to cemeteries, the population of the dead, which was around 1.5 million in 2006, outnumbers the living almost a thousand to one. Thus, Colma is often called “the City of the Silent.”
Cemeteries include the following: Cypress Lawn Memorial Park, Hills of Eternity and Home of Peace (side-by-side Jewish cemeteries); Holy Cross Cemetery, Woodlawn Cemetery, Eternal Home Cemetery (Jewish Cemetery); Greek Orthodox Memorial Park, and Greenlawn Memorial Cemetery. We visited two of them today: the Cypress Lawn Memorial Park, Hills of Eternity and Home of Peace cemeteries. The following people of note are buried at Cypress Lawn: William Randolph Hearst (newspaper tycoon); Turk Murphy (jazz musician and bandleader); and Charles de Young (“San Francisco Chronicle” founder ). In Hills of Eternity and Home of Peace were: Wyatt Earp (marshall of Tombstone—who would have thought he was buried here, alongside his common-law wife, who was Jewish?); and Levi Strauss (denim trouser pioneer). The cemeteries were beautifully laid out, and some of the funerary ornamentation was unusual and memorable.
We ended our tour at about 4:00 p.m., and our wanderings concluded in a mellow atmosphere. Colma is situated on the SF Peninsula at the highest point of the Merced Valley, a gap between San Bruno Mountain and the northernmost foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountain range, so the resultant views were quite spectacular!
This evening, Maureen is doing brats and sauerkraut for a final dinner. It has been a rare privilege to be with her again. She is a marvelous, sensitive hostess and a giving friend! Thanks, Maureen, from the bottom of my heart.
Stay tuned for tomorrow’s missive from Los Angeles, as I am winging my way there for the weekend to see Alexandra. As ever, Sylvia
This morning was a bright and sunny day as well as a little warmer than it had been. Maureen made scrambled eggs, bacon, and English muffins, while I started to pack. That took a while, and Maureen had lent me a few things like rain jackets and a sweatshirt, so all that had to be sorted out as well.
By the time all that had been done, we decided to drive to Colma, a small incorporated town in San Mateo, on the SF Peninsula in the SF Bay area. The population, in 2010, was almost 1,800. It was founded as a necropolis in 1924, and as a result there were more than the usual Art Deco grave ornaments. With most of Colma’s land dedicated to cemeteries, the population of the dead, which was around 1.5 million in 2006, outnumbers the living almost a thousand to one. Thus, Colma is often called “the City of the Silent.”
Cemeteries include the following: Cypress Lawn Memorial Park, Hills of Eternity and Home of Peace (side-by-side Jewish cemeteries); Holy Cross Cemetery, Woodlawn Cemetery, Eternal Home Cemetery (Jewish Cemetery); Greek Orthodox Memorial Park, and Greenlawn Memorial Cemetery. We visited two of them today: the Cypress Lawn Memorial Park, Hills of Eternity and Home of Peace cemeteries. The following people of note are buried at Cypress Lawn: William Randolph Hearst (newspaper tycoon); Turk Murphy (jazz musician and bandleader); and Charles de Young (“San Francisco Chronicle” founder ). In Hills of Eternity and Home of Peace were: Wyatt Earp (marshall of Tombstone—who would have thought he was buried here, alongside his common-law wife, who was Jewish?); and Levi Strauss (denim trouser pioneer). The cemeteries were beautifully laid out, and some of the funerary ornamentation was unusual and memorable.
We ended our tour at about 4:00 p.m., and our wanderings concluded in a mellow atmosphere. Colma is situated on the SF Peninsula at the highest point of the Merced Valley, a gap between San Bruno Mountain and the northernmost foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountain range, so the resultant views were quite spectacular!
This evening, Maureen is doing brats and sauerkraut for a final dinner. It has been a rare privilege to be with her again. She is a marvelous, sensitive hostess and a giving friend! Thanks, Maureen, from the bottom of my heart.
Stay tuned for tomorrow’s missive from Los Angeles, as I am winging my way there for the weekend to see Alexandra. As ever, Sylvia
Comments
Post a Comment