Last summer, I visited Neches Cemetery in Neches, Texas. Twice, actually. I was looking for the grave of Edna Pearl Allen, and I found it, right next to her second husband. After driving over sixty miles back to my mother's house in Nacogdoches, I discovered that Edna's first husband was buried in the same cemetery. So, back to the Palestine area I went. And sure enough, we came across his headstone further in the back of the cemetery. As you can see from the photo below, it should have been hard to miss, that is, if I had actually thought to look for it the first time.
Albert Abraham Maraman
April 28, 1867 - October 16, 1909
A curious inscription on the stone:
April 28, 1867 - October 16, 1909
A curious inscription on the stone:
"The sweetest
reward we
receive at last
consciousness
of virtuous
actions passed."
reward we
receive at last
consciousness
of virtuous
actions passed."
The verse appears to have come from the Anglo-Irish poet John Denham...
Why exactly these lines by a rather obscure poet were chosen will probably remain a mystery. It could be that Edna, who was a school teacher, found these lines while reading through some collection of poems. Or more likely, as a friend suggested, the funeral services director probably had a list of quaint sayings or verses from which the family could choose to place on the headstone.
Whatever the case, Albert's marker stands out among the rest both in terms of size and sentiment.