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 Earlier this year, I attended an advanced design course in Elberton, Georgia. I learned a great many creative ideas and met some of the most talented designers in the industry. It was an honor to make their acquaintance.
However, what I did not hear, and what concerns me, is the art of story telling on the monument in words. I was the only memorialist to address this issue at the seminar. Certainly monument designs and symbols are changing, and that is important, but it is also important to tell the story in words and as part of the memorial for future generations.
So far as I could tell, I was the only memorialist in attendance who stresses telling the family story on the memorial. Every life has a story, and it is not enough to just have a beautiful memorial. The industry needs to move away from a mentality of name, dates, epitaph and symbols, to name, dates, epitaph, symbols and STORY. Memorialization is very much about the life story or the “living legacy” SM as we call it.
Yes, I would like to see more artwork in cemeteries, and cookie cutter designs are to be avoided and symbolism is important, but the story needs to be told too. What will be known of the family history 50, 100, 200, even 1000 years from now? In many cases, only information provided at the cemetery will be known by the general public, except to historians and to serious genealogists. Lives well-lived deserve to be honored with more than just a beautiful monument. They deserve to be honored with a memorial that expresses their story in words too. The meanings of symbols are more likely to be misinterpreted than are well crafted words.
Too much focus on the stone over telling the story is dreadful memorialization. That is an area where our firm excels with editors on staff to assemble, refine, and tell the life story. Tell the life story in beautiful art with symbols, but also tell the life story, too, as part of the memorial. After all, it is the right thing to do.
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About Burton Fletcher:
Burton Fletcher, with over 20 years’ business experience, owns USAMonuments.com. He is a nationally published expert, frequently writing on monument building and memorialization. He designs, builds, ships and installs across the United States and Canada. Reach Burton at 229.245.8858 or e-mail to Burton@ValdostaMemorials.com for your memorialization needs.
© Burton
Fletcher 2005 All Rights Reserved.
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