About
Shanna Riley March 23rd, 2007
Welcome to my graving blog.
My name is Shanna Riley (aka skatoolaki) and I've loved cemeteries and graveyards since childhood. The hobby of graving, which suited me perfectly, I discovered after stumbling upon the Find A Grave website while looking for a place to memorialize online a friend who had recently died.
I am always trying to find the graves of my ancestors - most of whom are interred in the Avoyelles Parish or Pointe Coupee Parish areas. When I find family members, I add them to Find A Grave and to my ancestry website, Louisiana Lineage.
I created this blog to share my hobby with others who might enjoy the same. I spend a good deal of my free time "graving" - going to cemeteries, taking photos, and recording information. Sometimes I just go for the pleasure of going - no camera or notepad. My experiences have been interesting, disturbing, intriguing, but always fun.
For more, you can read my first post, I Grave, Therefore I Am. You can also visit this blog at Tumblr, graversjournal.tumblr.com and find me on Twitter, @graversjournal.
Fellow gravers, cemetery lovers, and taphophiles may be interested in my Graving Twibe and/or my Facebook group, Gravers' Journals.
- Comments(6)
Shanna-
I can not thank you enough for your kind words regarding our recent performance of "Magnolia Memories". As you may recall, it was I who shot and killed the unfortunate 'Harry' Aldritch in my role as Judge George.
I have to say that as an actor, this was one of the most touching and special things I have ever been asked to be a part of, and it was a huge undertaking to have to play a real man. Even if you play a man of questionable character, you do want to respect him and understand him as a man. It is an obligation you have to take seriously and you must be careful as there is every possibility that you may be performing for the relatives of the man you portray. As a man and an actor, this was a huge undertaking and reading your wonderful post regarding the show has made all of the efforts I made in performing in it worthwhile. I am so moved to see that the show was as meaningful to you as it was to us actors.
I would also love to say that I find your website and hobby fascinating! I, too, have always had a wonder and enchantment regarding gravesites and the ones who lay buried within. I have been a huge fan of Find A Grave for years as I am always curious to see what sort of gravesite someone might leave behind- it is their last, ultimate comment on themselves and the world they leave behind. Oddly, my favorite grave so far is from musician 'Falco' of "Rock Me Amadeus" fame. Truly a beautiful and moving image.
Now imagine my surprise to find that not only were you so very kind in your review of our show, not only were you engaged in a hobby I myself have always found exciting, but that you were also a MEMBER of Find A Grave, a site I have long championed and spent many an idle hour surfing. Lets you know the world isn't SO big after all.
Anyway, I will be continuing visits here to your site as I am now riveted by both the website and you as a person. What else can I say but THANK YOU for being so supportive of our show. I can not express how much it has meant to me.
Really "Dig" The Website!*- Johnny Worsham
*On behalf of all my ancestors, I would like to apologize for truly awful joke and I pray it has not somehow weakened your spirit or made you lose hope in mankind. Also, I am firing my writers!
Like yourself, I find cemeteries restful. It is one of my favorite places to go. I became interested in the symbolism on the headstones. I will admit that at first the finger pointing down had me a little worried. As I started researching a new world appeared and I became hopelessly hooked.
Love your blog. It is nice to know that I am not alone.
Johnny - I truly cannot express how thrilled I am that both you and Drew found the site and took the time to comment and share your thanks. It means so much to me. I really was struck by both of your performances and can certainly understand your desire to play such a deep, multi-faceted man just right. Indeed, the world is not so very big! It's always wonderful to find others with like tastes and similar interests, and I'm just so excited to find another Find A Grave-fan; the best part of that, though I will admit, is that you're in Louisiana! So very cool. I look forward to your continuing participation here at the site and urge you to contact me any time for a chat!
Pepper - Thank you as well. You're certainly not alone, as you'll see here. Cemeteries are infinitely interesting places with thousands of stories waiting to be told or brought to life. I'm so glad you enjoy the blog, and wish you warmest welcomes.
Shanna, just a note to let you know I enjoy reading your blog and will add to my Geneablog list in Google Reader. I found you thru LA Genealogy Blog.
Your post about Magnolia Memories made me want to go out and do cemetery tours again, having done so in Natchez and the Felicianas in the past.
I'm trying to get back into family history research after a years-long hiatus. I had to start with a reorganization of my files(still a work in progress) and just had to get a new computer following a near-crash.
But even before that, I had a connection to cemeteries. There are quite a few of us "out there", I'm sure of it. I remember going to the cemetery with my grandmother to clean up, etc. My job was to go along the rows in the Veterans' Plot next door and reset toppled flower vases. To this day, taking my parents out there to place flowers on the plot(for Granny, too, now), my knee-jerk reaction is to walk over to the Vets and stand up blown down flags, etc. I also remember seeing Thornton Wilder's "Our Town" in elementary school. I always thought about the dead in this way, that they sit out there and wait for us to visit and talk about us after we leave!
I work in local tourism now ( it's been terribly quiet, obviously) and enjoy visitors (genea-tourists) who come to me looking for cemeteries and helping them find their way. Would you believe that while writing this post, the phone rang with a caller from the next parish over asking if we had a map that showed the cemeteries here?
As an aside, if you want to make a field trip sometime and if you've never been to Lacombe for the All Saints Day observance at the Bayou Lacombe cemetery(off Hwy 190 St. Tammany Parish), it is a wonderful experience. The graves are cleaned and lit with candles, etc. It's quite a site to see and has much history along with it.
Glad to know there are people like you that give back to the community by making information available to others who may be very far away. Geaux gravers and County/Parish Keepers. Thanks for what you do for everyone.
The Cobles Have Three Healthy Triplets: Ashley, Ellie and Jake!
Very reliable sources have informed the Ladera Times that Lori Coble gave birth to three healthy triplets around 9:40 pm Wednesday, April 30. The triplets -- Ashley, Ellie, and Jake -- were born one minute apart.
Lori and her husband Chris suffered an unthinkable loss almost a year ago on May 4 when their three children -- Kyle, Emma, and Katie -- were killed in a horrific accident on southbound I-5 near the Oso Parkway exit. In an exclusive interview with the Ladera Times last December, the Cobles said they were meant to be parents, and proceeded to use in vitro fertilization to get Lori pregnant.
When three of the 10 eggs survived, two girls and a boy, the Cobles felt it was a sign and had all three eggs implanted and the community has been on pins and needles since. More details will be posted as they become available. For prior news on this ongoing story, click on the Coble News Diary.
Shanna, I just have to tell you, I love your work. I found out three years ago that I have Multiple Sclerosis and I can no longer work. At about the same time my Aunt passed away and I began to sift through all the familiy photos. These are some old photos- I'm talking Civil War uniform pics.
This started me on my quest to find all of my family. I am hoping that when I finish I am hoping to have a complete picture of each person from birth to death-including where they are buried and pictures of the gravestones.
After going through your website I am more determined than ever and I look forward to a great adventure. Thank you