Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Michigan and Mickey


I just spent a great week in Michigan. I attended a beautiful family wedding and then stayed with my sister and her husband for a few days. While there, my sister and I took a road trip to the northern area of Michigan - not the UP. I have a cousin in Hillman and another in Elmira and we visited them both.  They were gracious hosts and they allowed me to "pick their brains" for memories of our grandparents. That part of Michigan, with all the little lakes is beautiful. It has been years since I did any traveling in Michigan. I thank my sister for allowing me to drag her along (and do the driving). It gives us a little "sister-time" also.

We left Monday morning and got back Tuesday evening. On Thursday, we made it to the St. Thomas Cemetery in Ann Arbor to look for the grave of Mickey.  I wrote about this step-cousin on my blog last November 11th and 15th, in two parts. I wanted to visit his grave and get a picture. We found it easily, with the directions given to us by the cemetery caretaker. Mickey is in the middle of three stones in a row. The names on either side of him have no connection to our family. I assume his parents bought this one plot and none others. Kind of sad as he not only is buried by himself, but there is really no one to visit his grave site, but the cemetery is well maintained.

Here is a picture of his stone:



I also asked the cousins if they knew anymore about Mickey or his father, mother, and her family. They did not. They pretty much knew exactly what has traveled down the family grapevine - he died of polio when he was about 10 years of age.