Gene Notes

Some random and some not-so-random thoughts on family history.

Monday, July 12, 2010

Funeral Trains

Over the many years that I have researched my family, I have found many funeral reports. I don't mean "The funeral will be held ..." type of reports I mean full descriptions of the actual funeral. Sometimes that is the only mention of a death that I can find.

Often, because the death was in a different city/county/state,  the coffin would arrive via train. Such was the case with my own grandmother. She died up at "the Soo" and her body was transported first to Detroit, where she lived and then onward to Lexington, Missouri, where her family lived and where she was buried.

Imagine my surprise however, when transcribing an obituary for a former Vermont Railway employee who died in 2000, I found the following: 

Following the church service, as a final tribute to Mr. X, the Wulfson family of the Vermont Railway Corp., will provide his last ride on the railroad to the Green Hill Cemetery in Wallingford for interment and the graveside service.
 How fitting for someone who was a longtime railway employee.

Copyright 2010, ACK for Gene Notes

No comments:

Post a Comment