Distribution of graveyards

Well, rabbits, this week yours truly conducted a very unscientific survey to determine which were the most active graveyards in this little corner of heaven.

I say "unscientific," because all I did was keep a tally while reading the obit page of the Orlando Sentinel for seven straight days--a total of 94 entries.

Here are the results with commentary:

51% of obituaries made no mention of a final resting place at all. I can only assume that this includes the increasingly large number of cremations, as well as families who simply want their privacy.

20% were either out of the area (particularly at the national cemetery in Bushnell) or out of state entirely. This definitely reflects the transient nature of Central Florida's population. Very few of us are actual natives.

That left only 29%, distributed as follows:

8 at Woodlawn in Gotha--hands-down the "winner" in the busiest graveyard category.

4 at Osceola Memory Gardens down in Kissimmee.

2 each at Greenwood-Orlando, Glen Haven Memorial Park, and Winter Garden.

1 each at Chapel Hill, Congregation of Reform Judaism (never heard of this one before!), Edgewood-Apopka, Ocoee, Palm, Pineywood, San Pedro Catholic in Winter Park (also never heard of this one before!), Temple Israel in Gotha (is this new, too?), and Washington Park.

A bird's eye view for ye rabbits

Yours truly created a Google Map of all the hopping grounds already mentioned in this blog, and will commit to updating it on a weekly basis.

Happy Hallowe'en, everyone!

View Larger Map

More than just a graveyard

Something tells me the founder of Glen Haven Memorial Park and Mausoleum up in Winter Park would resent us rabbits referring to the place as a graveyard.

You see, Major Carl W. Hopps of the Army Corps of Engineers designed the place back in 1949 to be more than that.

He succeeded.

Glen Haven is perhaps one of the most serene and contemplative spots in this little corner of heaven.
Even the drive up to its front gate at 2300 Temple Drive has a calming effect on visitors.

If you follow the drive all the way to the back of the property, you will find the old office building and the original mausoleum where Major Hopps was laid to rest just a few days shy of his 92nd birthday in 1981. (Many more have been erected over the decades since the place opened.)

In the office, yours truly found an exceptionally friendly staff on hand, more than happy to answer questions and search thru their archives.

According to the records, the only "famous" burial on site--unless you count Major Hopps--is John M. Fox (1912-2003).

Don't recognize the name?

Well, don't feel too bad. Mr. Fox's "fame" wasn't attached to his name, rather to what he did. He was the founder of The Minute Maid Corporation, and the fellow responsible for popularizing the Chiquita Banana!

Most of the other memorials at Glen Haven, though, belong to less illustrious folk, including a few from my own family:

• William Swinney Morgan, Jr. (1900-1960), my great-grandfather.
• Erma Barco Morgan (1904-1995), his second wife.
• Edith Morgan Sims (1924-1999), my great-aunt.
• Richard Barco Morgan, Jr. (1955-1955), my dad's cousin who died in infancy.
• Myrtle Macy Burns (1901-1986), my great-aunt.
• Joseph Eugene Burns, Sr. (1901-1984), her husband.