It is the merry month of May, and it means many things to many people. For me it is Memorial Day month. When I was growing up in the day it was a  big family gathering. After we cleaned the family plots, place flowers in the Diamond Crest, Janesville, Lassen and Susanville cemeteries the family adjourned for sit down lunch in Pinto Room in Hotel Mt. Lassen.

While those days are. long gone, over the years I have worked in the various cemeteries. I researched the property titles when Lassen County acquired them and have assisted with countless people navigating cemetery plots,  assist with inurnments etc. Needless to say there are individuals who think I am in the charge of the Lassen County cemeteries. I am not. That responsibility is the Lassen County Public Works Department. However, I still receive calls and I assist when I can.

I do have an assortment of cemetery stories. One in particular is a stand out. This happened twenty years ago, when I was working in the Janesville Cemetery. A couple approached me, since I knew by their look they were confused and lost. They were lost. When I inquired whose grave they were looking for, I explained that person was buried in the Lassen Cemetery and gave them approximate location of where that was grave was located. Upon leaving, the woman exclaimed, “Why don’t they bury people in alphabetical order?”