My Mother's Monument

My Mother is buried in Safford, AZ for two reasons. First, that is where she was born, but I laugh because I always remember mom saying, "I really don't care where I am buried, I will be gone by then". The second is my Dad's parents saved a plot for him and my mom to have next to them. I guess it's a good thing that my mother didn't really care.

My Dad's parents are on the left and my Mom and Dad's headstone is on the right. Dad wanted them to resemble his parents with the same stone. This stone is rare and very expensive. There is only one quarry in the world that carries this red and black granite with quartz crystal. It took about three month to mine it and then it was shipped to Georgia to be cut and polished. Next it was transferred to Tucson, AZ where it was engraved. It weighs 2,600 pounds...over a ton. My Dad spent a lot of time on what he wanted engraved asking us kids over and over again what we thought, making sure everyone was happy with it. He traced the flowers from his parents stone and the guy who engraved it did the flowers by hand on Mom and Dad's.

Dad had a foot stone made for him and Mom made from the same stone. I told Dad please let us kids know where you have placed your foot stone so we are not in a panic when that time comes...and it better be a long time from now!

Dad was tired of sitting on the metal fence when he visited Mom so he decided to make a western wooden bench to go in the plot. He made it all by hand and engraved it too. The four livestock brands consist of Dad's side of the Bowman family. Dad's is the "A" dart which was his fathers.

Dad did a beautiful job making their monument JUST RIGHT. The flowers look beautiful!