Sunday, March 27, 2011

Fun at the Cemetery...


Elizabeth Taylor's burial at Forest Lawn Glendale brought back a lot of memories for my mother and I. My mother's family, the Forgeys, basically lived next door to Forest Lawn in the 1930's. The cemetery was a source of entertainment for the family. My grandmother Forgey would take walks through the cemetery with her children. My grandmother Forgey loved the movies and occasionally they would spot a movie star visiting a grave or even see famous people attending a funeral.
My mother and her siblings often played at the cemetery and sometimes took flowers off the graves and gave them to my grandmother :D. They could be naughty! One of the most interesting stories is how they were locked in the cemetery when they stayed too long one evening. Sounds like the 5 Forgey children were having a jolly time stealing flowers etc. and forgot the time. When they discovered they got locked in they walked all over the cemetery looking for another way out. When it started getting dark they became frightened about bats possibly attacking them and ghosts coming out to the graves. My mother talked about how they started getting panicky and got their shoes stuck in the flower holders. Luckily my grandparents noticed their absence and contacted the cemetery attendant who searched for them. The group was very happy to see the attendant and they all piled into his truck. 

2 comments:

Nan Harvey said...

Annette, I really enjoyed this story. I can visualize the children locked in the cemetery. That's one of those experiences that's not so pleasant as it is happening but makes one heck of a story to tell later!

Annette said...

Nan, Thanks very much for the nice comment :)! I am glad you enjoyed it! In retrospect it is a great story :).