Sunday, February 08, 2009

Wyuka II Pictorial






Charles Starkweather was a mass murderer who killed 11 people in Nebraska and Wyoming during a road trip with his 14 yr. old girlfriend, Caril Ann Fugate. His story inspired the films The Sadist, Badlands, Starkweather, Murder in the Heartland, The Frighteners and Natural Born Killers. His story also inspired the Bruce Springsteen song 'Nebraska'. Starkweather was executed in the electric chair at the Nebraska State Penitentiary.


American actor/singer Gordon MacRae’s releases for Capitol Records were quite successful. Through 1954 he scored numerous hits, among them "Rambling Rose," "So in Love," "It's Magic," "I Still Get Jealous," "Hair of Gold, Eyes of Blue," and "At the Candlelight Café."

MacRae starred in two of the most popular musicals of the 1950s, the movie versions of Richard Rodgers' and Hammerstein's Oklahoma!, and Carousel. In Oklahoma! he dazzled female hearts with such standards as "Surrey with the Fringe on Top," "Oh What a Beautiful Mornin'," "People Will Say We're in Love," and the title song.

I believe the music at the top of the marker is Oh What A Beautiful Mornin', Oh What A Beautiful Day.

Lincoln Memorial Park Cemetery



Click any picture for an enlarged view.

Sandy Dennis, Actress, was born in Hastings, NE. She was cast in a small role in the movie Splendor in the Grass in 1961. She won two consecutive Tony Awards for her performances in A Thousand Clowns in 1963 and Any Wednesday in 1964. In 1966, she was given an Academy Award for best supporting actress in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolfe. In 1967, Sandy was awarded a prize at the Moscow Film Festival for Up the Down Staircase and in 1970, was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for The Out-of-Towners.















Teena Brandon, born female, identified and dressed as a man and referred to herself as Brandon Teena in the Falls City, NE. area. Brandon found happiness with a girlfriend and made a number of friends, but when Brandon’s secret was discovered,
she was brutally attacked and later murdered.

Brandon’s story served as the basis for the film ‘Boys Don't Cry’, starring Hilary Swank, and also the documentary 'The Brandon Teena Story'.

Brandon Teena is in the striped shirt.

Saturday, February 07, 2009

Wyuka Cemetery Pictorial - Lincoln, Nebraska


This is one of the most famous markers at Wyuka.

The little girls eyes are said to follow you as you walk by.

Click any picture for a larger view.



Holocaust Memorial

The triangular configuration represents the Star of David.















Died in 1880 when he was 75.
That means he was born in 1805.
Wow.

Beautiful scrollwork.

Talk about the earth reclaiming you...

Airplane propeller used as a marker.

Corel Sherwood, a young aviator and friend of Charles Lindbergh, died in a plane crash.



Do you suppose these trees were planted at the same time the marker was placed?

Nice effect... I wonder if it was meant to convey a doorway to another world?

I think we can assume Bert had a fairly good sense of humor.

The top of this marker caught my eye. Beautiful.

Click the pic for a closeup view.

Now that's an interesting inscription!



This is a frequent theme on many older monuments... a half-draped vase. I don't know the meaning behind it, if someone does... please post a comment. Thanks.

I found this of interest as I had no idea what the "Battle of the Wilderness" referred to.





After some research I found out it was a Civil War battle:

The Battle of the Wilderness, fought May 5–7, 1864, was the first battle of Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's Virginia Overland Campaign against Gen. Robert E. Lee and the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia. Both armies suffered heavy casualties.

The battlefield was an expanse of nearly impenetrable scrub growth and rough terrain that encompassed more than 70 square miles of Spotsylvania and Orange County in central Virginia.

Now this is just plain creepy. I wouldn't want to be illuminating this with a flashlight in the dead of night... especially if it was the first time I ever saw it.

I just thought this monument was neat.