DALE CEMETERY

TOO MANY TO LIST

Posted By: Nancee Seifert (email)
Date: 10/13/2014 at 09:07:27

DALE CEMETERY - HAMILTON TOWNSHIP.

I headed for Dale Cemetery yesterday, armed with a Google map and the map
from the Decatur Co. website. I swear maps don't mean a durned thing when
you're map challenged as I am... It says to go Hwy 69, however, I take I-35
. So, in Leon, turn left at W 1st St.; turn right at SE Vine St.; Continue
onto SE 6th St.; Continue onto 253rd Ave.; Continue onto 230th St.; Turn
left at Co. Rd. R46; Turn left..........Destination will be on the left.
Reading my odomoter might be helpful too..

Well, I've not spent much time in this part of Leon and Decatur County, so
another first for me. As usual, I drove and drove and realized I'd gone too
far on Pleasanton Road, so I turned around and headed back.. There was no
traffic and so nobody to flag down to ask for directions -- but then, I saw
a guy with a dog sitting on the bank of a field next to the road, so I
pulled over and hollered at him, to get directions... He very calmly told me
where to go... (Well, where to find the cemetery).. I do believe in Angels.

His directions were perfect. There is no sign for this cemetery and it is
in the saddest condition of all the cemeteries I've visited in the past
couple of months.. It appears to have been vandalized, and most of the
stones have been knocked over.. I went through 1 full box and half of
another box of white chalk, trying to find the inscriptions so they would be
readable. The lichen is pretty thick on the marble stones.

I took 121 pictures which I'll put on the Iowa Gravestone Photos. Stacey
has approved the Lillie Cemetery pictures and you can see them on that site
now. I go to the Decatur Co. website (which is at the bottom of every email
you receive) and then go to the Gravestone Project from there... When I'm
posting these pictures, I use a split screen so I have the cemetery
transcription and the Gravestone Project both at the same time... I have to
refer to the transcriptions a lot, to make sure the info. is correct..

I know I haven't said it enough, but we need to all thank those folks who
walked and transcribed these cemeteries for us, while they were in better
condition and readable. What a tremendous amount of time it must have taken;
I am grateful for all their work!! With the condition of some of these
older cemeteries that I'm seeing, these transcriptions and photos are going
to be the only memories of them..

While I was chalking and working on the headstone pics, I heard an owl that
kept calling -- so I called back -- "hoo, hoo, hoo, hoo - who cooks for you?
We were having a great time and suddenly it stopped dead still.. Probably
came close enough to see that I was the wrong species.. smile... My Best
Nancee