Headstones tell two stories

Mail Tribune (Medford, OR — Wayback)

2018-12-10

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On a recent visit to the Eagle Point National Cemetery, I noticed that there is a very large section containing only the graves of women. I am curious to know how (and why) that came to be. — Mary Ann, Jacksonville There is no such section, Mary Ann, but after talking to a cemetery official who really seemed to know her stuff out there, we have a likely possibility as to what you may have seen. To reiterate, there are no women-only sections in the cemetery. “We don’t have any sections that are segregated at all,” said Teri Stacey, Eagle Point National Cemetery administrative officer. “We just go in order, numerically, as the burials happen each day.” It doesn’t matter if the burial is cremation or casket. The graves are ordered as veterans and their spouses are buried there. It’s been that way for all 22,228 interred there since 1952, when the cemetery was established. Now, to what you probably did see. Stacey tells us the casket burial sections have upright headstones as opposed to flat stones that are level with the ground. On those stones, the veteran goes on one side, and their spouse is inscribed on the back. “So instead of in flat ground where they are on the same stone, they are inscribed front and back,” Stacey said. You probably saw just the names on the back. So there you go. It’s not that you spotted a section for just women; it’s that you only, as they say, saw one side of things. Send questions to “Since You Asked,” Mail Tribune Newsroom, P.O. Box 1108, Medford, OR 97501; by fax to 541-776-4376; or by email to [email protected] . We’re sorry, but the volume of questions received prevents us from answering all of them.