Who's Buried in Grant's Tomb?: A Tour of Presidential Gravesites Book

A solid sourcebook for information on the deaths and burial places of all Presidents. The edition I read has no comments about the historical significance of living Presidents, but where known, does say where their final resting places will be.

Death is the greatest leveler of all. It's the final call. In my quotes, I like this one from Mark Twain, "I do not fear death. I had been dead for billions and billions of years before I was born, and had not suffered the slightest inconvenience from it." We can marvel at the accomplishments of the great, but our fate is theirs also.

There is a lot of historical trivia of interest to the historical minded. James Monroe's Gothic iron cage of a tomb which the author avers, "only Charles Addams could love."

The burial of Andrew Johnson, which was his way of getting the last word: Shrouded in the American flag, his head pillowed by the Constitution. (Which brought to mind, a great quote by Molly Ivins: "I'd rather see someone burn the flag and wrap themselves in the Constitution than burn the Constitution and wrap themselves in the flag")

The goodness of Harry Truman, when he attended a funeral which could have brought scandal. It was for Boss Tom Pendergast, and the only attendees were the Pastor and the President. Asked after the internment why he was there, Truman replied, "Pastor, I never forget a friend."

I had an old school up-bringing, where ancestors and relatives were remembered on Memorial day, May 30, which is also my birthday. A walk through a cemetery is is a gift to my historically oriented mind. Every time I go to Davenport IA to visit good friends who live there, I also have to visit Bix.

Bix Beiderbecke was one of the greats of early jazz, and there is a rather impressive family plot at Oakdale Cemetery. I have symbolically adopted Bix and his family, leaving pennies on Bix's stone, and in the blues tradition, seeing his grave is kept clean. (I have stood in the spots where Paul Whiteman and Jack Teagarden stood, mourning Bix.)

Some people find my interest morbid. I see it as part of life. I fear pain much more than I fear death. Here's to all who have come before, and all who come after. No Disnified 'circle of life,' just what it is.