Cemetery Monument

Patrick J. Martin

Patrick J. Martin

PCS Life Member/Illini Chapter President
Yesterday, July 11, 2014, I was able to realize one of my life's ambitions. Okay, I know and admit that my ambitions tend to be different from the average person's, but one of mine was to plan for my final wishes. A big part of that involved a cemetery plot and marker. After a brief search through a couple different cemeteries and talking to a couple cemetery directors who didn't seem to understand someone of my youth having definite ideas as to what I did and did not want for my eternity, a plot was acquired at Milwaukee's Forest Home Cemetery in December 2012. Those of you who were on the Forest Home tour as part of the 2013 International Meet may remember me mentioning at one point that we had driven past my grave!

Design work with the Peter Troost Monument Company began almost immediately after the plot was purchased. As someone who has always enjoyed visiting cemeteries and just looking around, I knew I wanted a traditionally inspired marker, but with my own attention-grabbing feature. I also wanted to promote both my interests in life as well as an appropriate cemetery symbol. I believe I successfully hit on both.

Original plan was for the monument to be in place in time for last year's PCS tour through the cemetery. Obviously that didn't happen. Well it may be eleven months late, but yesterday saw the installation of my monument. Considering I'll eventually be spending a lot more time lying under it then I'll ever spend looking at it, I guess an extra eleven months isn't a big deal!

If anyone's ever in Milwaukee and would like to see this for themselves, visit Forest Home Cemetery and go to section 37. You can't miss section 37, as that's the same section as the enormous Blatz family mausoleum.
 

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Finished photos.
 

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A couple other nearby markers that caught my attention.
 

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Wow!

I love it! I would love to have a mold/casting of that so I could make a kiddie car out of it! Hope you don't mind =)
 
Incredible !

I hope you get to enjoy checking it out for a very long time into the future.

Not many people can say they have done what you have done here.
Way to go !

Do you plan on having something written on the stone at some point ?
Maybe the year, make, model of the hearse on top. Something about being a hearse collector and rail fan. Some cool catchy saying.

I plan on being cremated so I guess I won't need something so cool but then again, you have us all thinking now !

My dad, mom and brother are at home so maybe a groovy spot somewhere should be considered.

Congrats on a great idea taken to completion.

:thumbsup:

Darren
 
Darren Bedford said:
Do you plan on having something written on the stone at some point? Maybe the year, make, model of the hearse on top. Something about being a hearse collector and rail fan. Some cool catchy saying.
Click to expand...

As a matter of fact, my original intent was to have a verse engraved on the back, which is something the monument manufacturer just plain forgot about. After seeing the finished stone in place, I'm rather liking the clean appearance of the way it is now. I have to admit the monument designer had a good eye for details. Another one of my original intentions was to have columns at the four corners, but he suggested the simple beveled corners would look better, and I think he was right. An almost last minute addition that he suggested was a line about the hearse on top, which I had my doubts about as I didn't want the monument to take on the appearance of an advertisement, but he talked me into it, so this appears on the back just above the base.....
 

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Meeting you last year in Milwaukee,I can say,yes I perfectly understand why you did it,leaving it to others to do is not your way,hope to get to go and see it for many many years to come.
 
See other side

If I have an upright monument the front will read "see other side" and the other side will be blank. If I have a flat marker, I still might use it.
 
think off all the money you just saved. why 40 years from now that cost would have tripled. even if you don't get to use it in the end you'll one of few enjoying the view from the green side.
 
details on the stone and artist who did the monument

I worked for one of the biggest granite monument producers in the early 70's, Coggins Granite Industries in Elberton Ga. My uncle was in every aspect of that business and took me under his wing and taught me a great deal. It was my first chance to set off about 4000 lbs of dynamite at one of their quarries, a hoot for a 20 year old.
Woukd like some info on the source of the raw material. Looks like grey granite for the base which could be sourced in Vermont, Georgia or several other places. But the black is much more rare. We had a quarry in VA that was that color, but most black stone had to come from places like Africa.
Was the car carved locally? The die portion of the monument is massive, very difficult to get that thick of a piece of clean (no defects or discoloration) stone.
Quarrying and monument production is a fascinating business. People are generally unaware of the skills required to put something like this together.
Now Patrick can use one of my favorite expressions: "Actually it is cast in stone"
Great job.
 
Jeff Beyer said:
I worked for one of the biggest granite monument producers in the early 70's, Coggins Granite Industries in Elberton Ga. My uncle was in every aspect of that business and took me under his wing and taught me a great deal. It was my first chance to set off about 4000 lbs of dynamite at one of their quarries, a hoot for a 20 year old.
Woukd like some info on the source of the raw material. Looks like grey granite for the base which could be sourced in Vermont, Georgia or several other places. But the black is much more rare. We had a quarry in VA that was that color, but most black stone had to come from places like Africa.
Was the car carved locally? The die portion of the monument is massive, very difficult to get that thick of a piece of clean (no defects or discoloration) stone.
Quarrying and monument production is a fascinating business. People are generally unaware of the skills required to put something like this together.
Now Patrick can use one of my favorite expressions: "Actually it is cast in stone"
Great job.
Click to expand...

Hello Jeff. The gray and the red granite came from Vermont. I forget the name of the quarry, it wasn't Rock of Ages, but rather their main competitor. The quarry also produced the engravings on the main "Martin" stone. The base stones and the cap stone were carved locally here in Illinois. The black was quarried in China and the hearse was also carved there and then shipped here as a finished piece. I remember mentioning to the monument designer that I would prefer to have an all American made monument, but he was not happy with the quality of the black granite available here and the labor rates to carve it in this country would have made it insanely cost prohibitive.
 
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