Tag: Family

Melody Lucinda

Today we attended the funeral of Melody Lucinda… She was my nephew’s (my brother’s son) stillborn daughter…perfectly formed in the womb yet died at 39 weeks. We sang the hymn “In My Heart There Rings a Melody”. It was a sad but touching service.

My nephew penned these words on his Facebook page:

“Well… today, 7/20, at 39 weeks 2 days, our daughter Melody Lucinda arrived.

Unfortunately for us, she arrived at the gates of Heaven into the arms of Jesus instead of into the arms of her parents. She leaves behind a Melody sized hole in our hearts as we grieve and mourn her loss.”

He also included this Bible verse:

“the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” -Job 1:21

Her obituary reads: “Melody Lucinda, infant daughter of Daniel and Stephanie  was stillborn on Friday, July 21, 2017 at Woodwinds Health Campus, Woodbury, MN. Melody was able to be cradled in the loving arms of her parents and extended family. Her middle name is in honor of her mom’s special aunt Lucinda LaVoie, who preceded Melody in death in 2007.”

The organization calling themselves Halos of the St. Croix Valley ministered to Stephanie and Dan. Someone from the organization showed up in the middle of the night, right after Melody was birthed (the hospital called them). They came to take photos and hand and finger prints and did things grieving parents would not think to do but wish they had later. Melody Lucinda’s hand and foot prints were on display at the service today.

 

Seven Generations

Reading Audrey Helbling’s Minnesota Prairie Roots blog on Oak Ridge Cemetery in Faribault prompted me to write about a very special cemetery to our family.

Rudolph Bollinger Tombstone

In Lancaster County Pennsylvania, where my husband grew up, there are many old cemeteries simply because the East Coast was settled much earlier than the Midwest. Outside the doors of Middle Creek Church of the Brethren, the country church my husband attended as a child, is an cemetery surrounded by picturesque, small farms in the rolling countryside of Southeastern Pennsylvania.

In Middle Creek Cemetery lies seven generations of the Bollinger clan. My husband enjoys genealogy research and has traced his family back to Rudolph Bollinger who came over from Switzerland about 1720.  Rudolph is not buried in this cemetery but his tombstone was found in a farm field nearby. This was a very exciting discovery by my husband and his brother. Rudolph (died 1770) is the fifth great-grandfather of my husband.

Abraham Bollinger Tombstone

The first Bollinger in the church cemetery in my husband’s lineage is Abraham Bollinger, a son of Rudolph. His tombstone in German tells us he lived from 1756 to 1814. My husband’s younger brother Richard, who died in 1986,  makes for the seventh generation.

Since Abraham, each succeeding generation of males (and their spouses) in my husband’s direct Bollinger lineage have been buried in this cemetery. On our last trip to Pennsylvania we visited each graveside. I think it is unusual to have seven generations buried in one cemetery in the Untied States. It’s a wonderful family history.

 

 

 

 

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