Cemeteries Bring History To Life

First, the children toured the mansions where Spokane pioneers spent some glorious years while living. Then they toured Greenwood Memorial Terrace, where some of those pioneers were laid to rest. It was a field trip for Brentwood Elementary second and third-graders and it might seem a bit macabre. A visit to a cemetery?

But students, teachers and parents came away from the visit with an appreciation of the history that unfolds in a quiet way in Inland Northwest cemeteries.

“I don’t think kids have an appreciation of history. They haven’t lived long enough,” said Darlene Claassen, a third-grade teacher at Brentwood. She said there was a bit of resistance when the idea was first presented to students. Some made jokes. One girl felt afraid. But the jokes and the fears vanished as soon as the children hopped off the bus to explore. “They said, ‘Oh you mean way back then, this happened?’ They were amazed that people died so young. They begged to go back.”

The children looked at the gravestones of pioneers and also did “rubbings” on other monuments that intrigued them. Some of the girls chose the hearts and roses etched into stone above the graves of babies. Others found their names on gravestones and rubbed those onto paper.

Parents and teachers can easily do what Brentwood Elementary students did on their unusual field trip. Accompany your children to a cemetery and teach them about history, about respect for those who have gone before them. “Heritage From Heroes,” a book by Dorothy Rochon Powers, provides a textbook of sorts for a cemetery visit. In her book, she looks at the lives of the people buried in several Spokane cemeteries. Some are famous. Some are not.

This Memorial Day take an hour or two to show your children a cemetery, a place where history lives.

, DataTimes The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Rebecca Nappi/For the editorial board