Barbara Sue Manire passed away on her 64th birthday in 2005. Her tombstone pictured below is the way it looked for the first year after her burial in the Highland Cemetery in Okemah, Oklahoma.

In case you can't read it clearly, the epitaph reads, "Our mom ... Her humor lives on." Here's why....

Barbara Sue Manire, a women with a great sense of humor, always used to say that when she died she wanted a parking meter on her grave that says 'Expired.' Barbara Sue's daughter, Sherri Ann Weeks confirmed that such an unusual decorative feature on her mother's tombstone was indeed her mother's idea. Sherri said, "Mom always said she wanted a parking meter with 'time expired.' And she wanted to be on the front row of the cemetery so she could see what was going on. We gave her what she wanted. ... Our dad wanted his final inscription to be 'I told 'em I was sick,'" said Weeks, "but we were never sure if he was serious about it. With Mom, she talked about the parking meter all the time. We knew she wanted it."

The parking meter wasn't placed at the time Barbara Sue Manire was buried since they weren't sure if it was the right thing to do after all. Her family mulled the whole idea over for about a year before Sherri's brother, Terry Heiskill, bought the meter on eBay. A hole was drilled in the gravestone to accommodate the parking meter.

Below are two different angles on the meter itself.

You can see the tombstone online by clicking here

chickadee update...

The last several times I've peeked into the bird house, the mama has been on her eggs. So I don't know at this point how many eggs there are currently. More details as they become available....

quotation...

Give us a sense of humor.
Give us the grace to see a joke,
To get some humor out of life,
And pass it on to other folk.

- author unknown

=^..^= =^..^=
Rob

Fools rush in - and get all the best seats.

Comments

• April 12, 2008, Sue writes: I have a feeling that if Barbara could see it, she'd love it.
• August 17, 2009, Nellie Lytvinenko writes: Thanks so much for sharing this post! Too many serious moments in the last couple of years......this is wonderful! Thanks. Nellie
• August 18, 2009, Rob writes: @Nellie - I'm glad you enjoyed it. Laughter is such a great stress reliever, isn't it?

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Today's iv is a much lighter look at this topic - epitaphs on tombstones. I have no way of knowing if they are all for real, but some of them are quite humorous. They range from puns on the name of the deceased, to insights into how the person lived or died, to insights into "those left behind" whose task or joy it was to write the epitaphs.

The following are reported to be actual epitaphs on tombstones:

Here lies Ann Mann;
She lived an old maid
And she died an old Mann.
(Bath Abbey, England)

Here lies Lester Moore
Four slugs from a .44
No Les
No Moore
(Tombstone, Arizona)

Here lies Johnny Yeast.
Pardon me
For not rising.
(Ruidoso, New Mexico)

In a cemetery in Hartscombe, England:
On the 22nd of June
- Jonathan Fiddle -
Went out of tune.

Here under this sod and under these trees
Is buried the body of Solomon Pease.
But here in his hole lies only his pod
His soul is shelled out and gone up to God.
(Falkirk, Scotland)

Someone punned on the name of Owen Moore in England:
Gone away
Owin' more
Than he could pay.

Underneath this pile of stones
Lies all that's left of Sally Jones
Her name was Briggs,
It was not Jones,
But Jones was used to rhyme with stones.
(Skaneateles, New York)

Sacred to the memory of Anthony Drake,
Who died for peace and quietness sake
His wife was constantly scolding and scoffin',
So he sought for repose in a twelve dollar coffin.
(Burlington, Massachusetts)

Beneath this stone, a lump of clay
Lies Arabella Young
Who on the 21st of May
Began to hold her tongue.
(Hatfield, Mass.)

Shoot-em-up-Jake
Ran for sheriff, 1872
Ran for sheriff, 1876
Buried, 1876.
(Dodge City, Kansas)

Anna Wallace:
The children of Israel wanted bread,
And the Lord sent them manna.
Old clerk Wallace wanted a wife,
And the Devil sent him Anna.
(Ribbesford, England)

Margaret Daniels:
She always said her feet were killing her
but nobody believed her.
(Richmond, Virginia)

Here lies the body of Jonathan Blake.
Stepped on the gas
Instead of the brake.
(Uniontown, Pennsylvania)

Someone determined to be anonymous in Stowe, Vermont:
I was somebody.
Who, is no business
Of yours.

Beneath this stone
lies Dr. John Bigelow,
an atheist all dressed up
with no place to go.
(Thurmont, Maryland)

Here lies my wife,
I bid her goodbye.
She rests in peace
and now so do I.

Here lies Ezekial Aikle, Age 102
The Good Die Young.
(East Dalhousie Cemetery, Nova Scotia)

Beneath this stone, this lump of clay
Lies uncle Peter Daniels,
Who too early in the month of May
Took off his winter flannels.
(Medway, Mass.)

A widow wrote this epitaph in a Vermont cemetery:
Sacred to the memory of
my husband John Barnes
who died January 3, 1803
His comely young widow, aged 23, has
many qualifications of a good wife, and
yearns to be comforted.

Sir John Strange.
Here lies an honest lawyer,
And that is Strange.
(England)

He called Bill Smith a liar.
(Cripplecreek, Colorado)

She lived with her husband
50 years and died
in the confident hope
of a better life

William Jones
Beloved husband of Elizabeth Jones
Rest in peace until I come

In a cemetery in England:
Remember man, as you walk by,
As you are now, so once was I.
As I am now, so shall you be.
Remember this and follow me.

To which someone replied by writing on the tombstone:
To follow you I'll not consent
Until I know which way you went.

A popular pizza commercial asks, "What would you like on your Tombstone?" If your life were to be summed up in an epitaph, how would it read?

I doubt that the apostle Paul had a tombstone, but if I had had to write it, I think I would have just recorded what Paul wrote in Philippians 1:21, "For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain."

That pretty well sums up Paul's life. The question is, does that sum up my life?

In a blog post in early June I included pictures of a flower box I built. Below is a picture of what it looks like now - the zinnias and lantana are doing great, the trailing petunias are not, and the pansies and Johnny Jump-Ups ... well, they've not yet appeared.

quotation...

"Don't live for anything less than God." - Dr. Drew Conley

=^..^= =^..^=
Rob

"My greatest fear in life is that no one will remember me after I'm dead and gone." - some dead guy

Comments

• August 1, 2007, Jeannie writes: one of the tombstones outside the Haunted House ride @ Disney world in Orlando read Here lies dear old Fred A great big rock fell on his head. Another read I told you I was sick. :P
• August 2, 2007, Jeff Hollon writes: I know what I want on my tombstone! I want an open-ended date! Rob adds: It would indeed be great to be among those who don't have to face death because of the Lord's return. That said, I'd choose the same thing you have! :-)
• August 2, 2007, Joseph Henson writes: The third line should read, "Ran from sheriff, 1876"
• January 29, 2008, Garrison writes: this is interesting, but have you ever taken a picture by a tombstone with your name on it?
• September 13, 2008, Gary writes: Found on Jonny Cochran's Tombstone: " O. J. Did It "
• April 8, 2009, Sam Schnaiter writes: For Rob's Tombstone: Here lies Rob Loach, He made his mark A Pun the world.
• April 8, 2009, Rob writes: @Sam - Leave it to another pun-meister to come up with the perfect epitaph for my tombstone some day! Thanks!

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