Tombstone Tuesday – Rury

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Rury, tombstone tuesday

James Lyman Rury was my paternal grandmother’s father and he died in 1925 when my grandmother was still in high school.  A few weeks ago my mother and I visited the Enid Cemetery in Enid, Oklahoma where James Rury and several of my paternal ancestors are buried.  The lady in the office was extremely helpful in providing the locations of all the graves we wanted to see plus sharing additional information the cemetery retains about the plots.  While we were there I took photos of several headstones including this one of James’.

James L. Rury - Enid Cemetery 2009

This week I began scanning more photos that my aunt has loaned to me and among them is a group of photos of my great grandfather’s headstone.  They were probably taken in the summer after his death and the photos show that the cemetery looks more like a field with only a few headstones.  I can see a house in the background of one of the photos, the grass is tall and there are plants growing in front of James’ headstone.  Also, there is a concrete outline around James’ plot, which is hardly noticeable today.   The background and design of the headstone is much clearer in these older photos.  Some of that contrast is surely due to weathering of the stone over time however, the way the sun dances on the stone at different times of the day creates shadows that make the engravings more or less pronounced.  My photo was taken in the morning when the sun was in front of us so the shadows were not as strong while the older photos, based on the shadows, were taken in the afternoon.  (To see the details you’ll need to click on each photo to enlarge)

James Rury circa spring or summer 1926

James Rury