Yet when Cathryn and I visited the spot, it seemed to become very significant to me. There are now more headstones there. Grandma and Grand have theirs and Mom and Dad have theirs. Reading their headstones somehow affirmed and validated who I am. There were the names Leslie N Barkdull and Louisa T Barkdull. I knew them! They were very significant to me when I was alive. There were Ralph N. Kirkham and Mary Barkdull Kirkham Call. They were my parents who literally and partially figuratively made me who I am. And then there was Thad Barkdull, my uncle whom I never knew. But we visited his grave for many years when I was a child.
At the age of 70, childhood is long ago. Yet it was real, and very significant. Visiting the site of the graves of those who made it so, renewed those old "ties that bind" and reduced the many years between to but a moment.
I came across your blog while googling my name. I am also a Thad Barkdull, though I never knew until my freshman year of college. I received a call from someone who had seen my name in the dorm directory at BYU asking if I had family with the same name. I had been told my name was one that my mother liked, but no relation to our family. I called my father, who told me that there was a distant relative who had died in a car accident whose name was Thad. I guess this was your uncle. Where is he buried? I would like to visit.
ReplyDeleteThad J. Barkdull--darkdullmd@yahoo.com
father- F.Delano Barkdull
g-pa- William Nathan Barkdull
g-g-pa -- Nicholas Barkdull
g-g-g-pa -- David Lot Barkdull