My Father's Hands

I wrote about my Dad, Curtis Henry Cline, in his early years a few weeks ago.  I want to reflect on him as a father today.  My father was physically strong due to working with his hands.  I loved my Father’s hands.  They were large, strong and tough from hard work.  On the emotional side, he was a tender-hearted man.  He used to read the Herald Of Holiness magazine from our church and tears would run down his eyes when he read of the needs throughout the world, or of an uplifting article.  He often picked me up in his arms and toted me around with him, when I was small, and I could feel the love he felt for me. I was a lucky child. I remember wanting a swing when I was about five years old.   I kept asking him to build me one in my sweetest voice. I knew he worked from sun up to sun down, but I was sure he could squeeze in time to make my swing.  He had a welding shop behind our home, and I guess I thought he would make it there.  One day he kneeled down on his knee to my level and with tears in his eyes said “Margaret if you want a swing as badly as you say I will build you one tomorrow.”  And he did!  He welded a metal bar across the top from our shed to another bar he buried next to our fence.  He hung log chains down from the cross bar to a wooden seat he made for me.  I thought my Dad was wonderful back when I was a little girl, and that he could do anything and continued to think so until he died December 21, 2002, at the age of ninety-one.  Curtis Henry Cline was my first hero.

Another time, I moved to St. Louis, Missouri and rented a small apartment on the third floor of the building.  Needing furniture, I asked Mom and Dad to let me use some of their extra furniture.  They agreed to help me and Dad loaded some furniture in his truck and drove from Sikeston, Missouri to my Aunt Beulah and Uncle Orville’s house where I was staying until I had furniture for the apartment.  He arrived about 10:00 am and we drove from the suburbs to St. Louis where my apartment was located.  I tried to help him move as much as possible, but it seems I was more in his way, with the furniture than a help.  Therefore, he strapped the dresser on his back and walked the three flights of steps to my new place.  He did the same thing with more furniture.  I carried the boxes and bedding.  When he got to the top of the stairs with the last piece of furniture, he stopped and asked me, “how much less are the rooms on the third floor than the ones on the first floor?”  I told him they were $30 a month less.  He said he would pay the difference for me to live on the first floor when I moved again.  He never complained, he only let me know he wished it had been on the first floor.  Whenever I needed anything, he was there for me with his usual smile.  There are many more memories I want to write but I want to concentrate on his ethics and character in the next issue.

Photographing Headstones Can Be a Challenge and a Delight

Like most genealogist, I enjoy visiting cemeteries.  In addition to photographing headstone, cemeteries are calm, serene, and provoke a sense of history.  I produce clear, readable photographs of the headstone I shoot.  I have been asked many times how I get such good shots.  Here are a few tips for visiting cemeteries and producing good pictures of your, and other people’s, ancestors.

1.     Always be aware of your surroundings.  This fact should be obvious, but there are undesirable elements in cemeteries, from snakes, to homeless people, to vagrants.  Take a long look at the area surrounding the section of the cemetery where you will be working before locking your car.  If someone make you feel uncomfortable, leave and come back later.

2.     Take time to enjoy the beauty of the cemetery.  Depending on the covenant or regulations in a given cemetery, many have beautiful artwork or sculpture work as part of headstones.  After you finish your work, take a walk to view the artwork and architecture or layout of the cemetery.

3.     Be respectful of the graves.  Do not step or sit on the stones. Walk, do not run, while visiting or working in cemeteries, and be respectfully quiet.  Do not disturb flowers or other mementos family members left on the grave.

4.     Use the sun. Taking shots at a slight angle can often make an unreadable stone suddenly come to life when the shadow cast in the etched names,  that is unreadable when viewed looking at it directly.  Of course, take photos with the sun at your back.  Cloudy days are better than sunny days at producing good headstone shots, and I avoid taking photos at noon-time because the pictures lack contrast.

5.     Problematic Flowers on Headstones.  Cemeteries or funeral homes often put the flower holder on headstones in a way that they block the view of the name.  When this happens, first take the full headstone shot.  Then, where possible, I temporarily remove the flowers from obstructing the view and take a close up of the name and date.  If it is not feasible to remove the flowers, gently hold the flowers aside long enough to take a photo.  Always return the flowers where you found them

.6.     Focus before you click.  Take a few extra seconds to make sure the picture is in focus before you take your photograph.  If you are using a cell phone to take the picture, two or three extra seconds can make a big difference in the readability of a headstone.  If a photo is out-of-focus, you have wasted your time in photographing a given headstone.

7.     Get out of the shot before you click.  Look critically at your proposed photo before you click.  Is it in focus, and is there anything showing in the picture that should not be there? Is there a shadow on the headstone making it difficult to read?  If anything is disruptive in the shot, move and try different angles. 

8.     Photograph the entrance to the cemetery. Other relatives may want to visit the cemetery, based on your photographs.  By take a picture of the entrance of the cemetery you do two things.  First, you have identified the name, in case you forget it, and second, you have given others a landmark to look for when they visit.

9.     Who is buried nearby?  Chances are that if one of your relatives is buried in a cemetery, then others are too. Take a walk down the row you were photographing, then go over two or three in each direction to see if you see a name with whom you are familiar.  If you do, take a picture while you are there.  Even if it is not an exact match to your family, it can be delete later and you took pro-active steps, just in case it was a match in the future. 

Other Items of Consideration

Set Your Quality of Photo High.   I use Adobe Elements, or like software, to enhance and organize most of my photographs. I adjust the quality on “high” and my Format to “Baseline Optimized,” and adjust the quality of the picture to 600 DPI resolution.

Don’t put off taking photos – I read somewhere that a photo today is worth more than a photo tomorrow.  This statement is true for three reasons.

  ·       Headstones age and with every year they are harder to read. I have a soft whisk broom I use to sweep away debris before photographing the headstone.  It is also better to shoot at a slight angle for readability and aesthetics.

  ·     Everything from vandalism, sink holes, storms than down trees, and more occur and your headstone may not be there a year from now.

  ·    Encroachment of new construction into areas where cemeteries exist. Often cemeteries are buried, without contacting anyone, to make way for new residential or commercial “progress.”

I strongly recommend that you photograph any and every headstone related to your family as soon as possible when good lighting circumstance is available.  Tomorrow may be too late.

        Margaret Cline Harmon lives in Zachary, Louisiana and can be contacted atmcharmon1@gmail.com.