On October the 1st, I went on the Oakridge Cemetery Tour, which was presented by the Elkhart Civic Theatre. I happened to find out about it on facebook from my dear friend Susan South. Susan is an actress with the Elkhart Civic Theatre. She is also very active in our Elkhart Community.
The weather was sunny but a little brisk. It was perfect for a cemetery tour. I love Oakridge Cemetery and plan in the future, morbidly speaking to have our headstones in this Cemetery. I don’t plan to be in it personally except for a few dustings just to say that I am partially there. You still need to have a plot if you want a headstone in the Cemetery. Once again, I know I digress.
Oakridge Cemetery has class. I love the old tombstones and actually found my great-great-grandfather and great-great-grandmother there. It was by accident. They have a very distinct monument that looks like a tree trunk. Grandpa William Cobbum and Grandma Urilla Shoup are interred there. I love the ancestral stories. Names and dates and places of birth and death are not nearly as interesting as the personal stories about our ancestors. In another article I will share what I learned about these interesting ancestors and how I found out about them.
Sigh, here I go again! Back to the Oakridge Cemetery Tour. The new director of the Elkhart County Historical Museum in Bristol, Indiana and his wife, took us on the tour. They are new to the area and look so very young. But then as we old folks know the older that we get the younger others look. They were a very pleasant couple and were interested in the tour participants.
Our first stop was at the grave of Emma Chandler who was born in 1883 and died in 1920. Susan South portrayed her. Susan did an excellent job as always. She is a very active member of the Elkhart Civic Theatre and was born to act.
Emma was a principal of Goshen High School and later Chandler Elementary School was named after her in her honor. She was well loved and respected. She was not born in Indiana but came here from New, York. I hate to admit that I don’t remember all of the details and can’t find more data on the internet.
The next graves were of John and Emeline Bashor. John was born in 1822 and died in 1906. Emeline was born in 1835 and died in 1923. They donated land to provide homes for orphans in the area. Sadly when they were married they were too old to have children of their own. Today Bashor is a home for children who are troubled as well as those who need homes. It is a very well respected home for children. I have personally known some to the children that have been at Bashor. They have all had good things to say about their experiences at Bashor. That was not always the case 20 odd years or so ago. Jay and Lorri Krull portrayed Mr. and Mrs. Bashor.
I asked the actors who Michael Bashor was, who has a very impressive monument of an angel, which is right across from their monuments. They said that they believed that it was a brother to John. I didn’t tell them that it is rumored that this monument cries tears of blood. I also didn’t tell them that I was rather disappointed because I wanted to witness it. It is amazing how urban legends get started. There aren’t even any rust stains on the cheeks of the angel.
We then visited the grave of Rabbi Weinstein who was born in 1859 and died in 1943. I had no idea that this part of the Oakridge Cemetery was only for those who are Jewish. Weinstein served as Rabbi of the Sharis Isreal congregation in Goshen of 51 years. He was also known for almost 60 years as a Mason. Weinstein was born in Lithuania.
He shared that they do not put cut flowers on graves but pebbles. That was something that I wondered about when I would take my dogs to walk in the cemetery. There would be little pebbles on some of the graves. He also said that his wife had become very despondent and committed suicide. That was very sad. Carol Wiesinger did an excellent job or portraying Rabbi Weinstein. He definitely looked the part.
I will continue this article in part two as the stories get even more interesting. I have always been interested in the graves and the stories of the people who have lived their lives that have passed on. Each one has a story to tell and they have lived, loved, laughed, cried and went on to die. I wish that we could know all of their stories. This has been a fascinating experience to actually get to know some of them that I would have never have known about except for this tour.