Holy Ghost Ukrainian Catholic Cemetery
Plankey Plains, Manitoba Canada
Here is one of the more fortunate of the unfortunate grave markers in the Plankey Plains Cemetery. There are families, though, who have replaced the markers like this and far worse with new ones, many keeping the long rectangular concrete slab that lies flat over the grave site.
Perhaps on the next trip to this area I will be able to find out more information, but at this time I will offer what I have. The grave markers were cast by hand, most likely by a resident who took it upon himself to handle this portion of the church and cemetery business. In this case, the letters were scratched into the cement, but rather unevenly. Now, as you can see, there is growth that would need to be removed in order to view the letters better.
My husband and I were told a story by his cousin who went to visit his family's cemetery burial grounds in Southern Minnesota. Unfortunately for this site, a man had taken it upon himself to clean up the grave markers by washing and soaking them. He discovered in the end that he had removed all of the names. Once done, there is no undoing.
Here is the same photograph, printed and then outlined as best as I could with a marker, and what I can glean from what I see thus far. I see a name, Ivan? Ivanbola? This person died in [19]22 at the age of 38 years.
