Attending a Funeral

Today, I went to a cemetery - for the usual reason people go– bidding farewell to someone.  It has been years since I’ve actually been to one without a camera, and I felt a bit odd to be a part of the event, and not a detached watcher across the way.

On a windy hill in a tiny country cemetery, I stood with others under the bright April sunshine as another soul was remembered. 

And I wondered how many people had stood on that tiny hill, remembering someone dear, while clergy and friends try to console but can only offer a partial understanding of the grief, and an allocation of hope.

A Korean veteran, the deceased was given Military Funeral Honors by local American Legion members.  As the detail leader presented the folded U.S. flag to his wife, he explained what each color stood for; “The blue in the flag represents the sea and sky and stands for justice.  The red in the flag represents valor and the blood shed by American heros who sacrified for our freedom.  The white stripes in the flag symbolize our liberty.”  I have seen this presentation of the flag many times on television, but have never attended a veteran’s funeral and heard what words may be said to the family.

The ‘three volley of musketry’ salute to a fallen comrade, an American military custom, was sharp in the morning air – three shots fired in quick succession.  Then the call “Bugler” came, and I knew I wouldn’t make it through with dry eyes.  The haunting sound of Taps was fitting and filled the air with long sweet notes, played by one man, his weathered face slightly raised toward the sun…

Then came the command to ‘Order arms’ and the seven older veterans soldiered their rifles on their shoulders and began their slow walk back across the hill, and into their normal day.

As various scriptures were read, I remembered the first time I had met Bob.  He and his wife, MaryAnn, close friends of one of my dearest friends, Terry, had attended a play we were in.  It was my first venture into theatre and I had landed a lead against a seasoned actress.

As we stood in front of the stage after the performance, meeting and greeting those who had attended, Bob had shaken my hand and said, “You two have a sort of magic up on that stage – You play well off of each other – You can make people laugh.  What a wonderful gift.”

Terry and I have gone on to star opposite each other in numerous shows, and each time Bob and MaryAnn were in attendance, until his health became too bad for them to continue.

But every time, before I step onto that stage in front of an audience, I think of those words… – "You can make people laugh. What a wonderful gift."   Indeed, it is. And what a wonderful, touching compliment for an actor to hear.

As the service drew to a close, a lone bagpiper stood on the crest of the hill, stately in his jacket and kilt.  The plume on his hat swayed in the breeze.  As the final prayer died away, ever so gently, he began to play - Amazing Grace.

With each sonorous note, it seemed as if he were drawing the sound up from the earth, releasing it with the bellows he controlled under his arm. I turned toward him, the only one in the small gathering, to watch. And in that moment, I understood just how important a cemetery really is – It not just as a place to bury our dead, to memorialize them, to go and remember in; it is also a place where we separate and say goodbye, where bonds are broken, where we must let go and release them, in order to grasp the parting of ways.

Lost in the moment, I realized the music had changed; the sound was starting to recede.  When I looked up, the bagpiper was walking away, slowly, toward the sun, head held high, kilt and red plume blowing in the prairie wind. And in that moment, I could picture Bob walking beside him, following the music to see where it would lead.

The bagpiper crested the hill and was lost from view – but the final notes hung on the air for a moment, before being whipped skyward in a mixture of finality, and tumultuous expectation….

~ Joy

Louis Sullivan - America's Modern Architect

American Skyscrapers

Louis Sullivan

Known as the “Father of the Skyscraper”,  Louis Sullivan was one of the most influential architects in modern history. His designs were considered some of the best in American architecture.

Boston in the 1870's

Boston's Horticultural Hall

Louis Henry Sullivan was born on September 3, 1856 to Patrick and Andrienne (List) Sullivan in Boston.  He was raised on his grandparent’s farm in South Reading, Massachusetts - but Louis had an affinity for the city.  As a young teen, Sullivan was fascinated with buildings, how they were constructed, what materials were used, and why.

MIT Logo

Frank Furness

In 1871, Sullivan entered Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) at the age of 16. He studied there for one year before moving to Philadelphia and landing a one-year job with architect Frank Furness.

Great Chicago Fire

Sullivan moved to Chicago in 1873 and became part of the design work force reconstructing the damaged city after the Great Chicago Fire of 1871.

Dankmar Adler

In 1880, architect Dankmar Adler hired Sullivan as a draftsman and designer.  Three years later Adler made him a partner in the firm.  Adler and Sullivan began their partnership designing theatres. 

Adler was the partner who sought out and secured the large commissions; Sullivan was the architect who could design and create the visual unity necessary in tall buildings.

Auditorium Building

Auditorium Plans

But the commission that made their company famous was the Auditorium Building, built from 1886 to 1890.  Not only did it house a 4,200 seat theatre, but also a hotel, and offices located in the 17-story tower.  The building was so amazing, it helped the city of Chicago land the Columbian Exposition – the Chicago’s World Fair of 1893.

Wainwright Building

Carson Pirie Scott Department Store

Adler and Sullivan went on to design the Wainwright Building in St Louis, the Chicago Stock Exchange Building, the Guaranty Building, now known as the Prudential Building in Buffalo, New York, and the Carson Pirie Scott Department Store on State Street in Chicago – all within a period of five years.

Sullivan is known for coining the phrase “form follows function.” This means that the form (shape) of the building should be based on what the intended function (purpose) is. Sullivan first used the phrase in 1896 in his article for Lippincott’s Magazine entitled “The Tall Office Building Artistically Considered.”  It became the mantra of 20^th Century modern architecture and industrial design.

Steel Framework

Sullivan was the first architect to use steel frames in his skyscrapers. His American style of architecture simplified the look of modern buildings and created new techniques to lead the eye, and the population, upward. Sullivan believed that the use of steel in building construction was safe and economical. And with the continued growth of cities, vertical was the only way to expand buildings. The newly evolved high-speed elevators made such an idea a possibility.

Base Area

Sullivan understood the three parts that were fundamental to classical design - base, shaft, and capital.  His steel skyscrapers were divided into these three parts starting with a plain base that had plenty of large windows for the ground level shops.  Banks, stores, and other businesses that catered to foot traffic would occupy these street-level stores.

Vertical Shaft Area

The second design area (shaft) contained the offices. It was emphasized by vertical bands of masonry going up the corners of the building to emphasize its height. These tiers of offices could be built one upon another, with the individual offices being, as Sullivan described, "similar to a cell in a honeycomb."

Capital Area - Attic

 The final area was at the roofline where round windows were located.  This attic area was filled with the mechanics, pipes, and cables that came up through the building from the basement.

Details on Carson Store

Art Nouveau Details

While he felt that the practical construction of a building should be more important than the design elements, Sullivan did not object to ornamentation on buildings.  He was known to place Art Nouveau and Celtic Revival details fashioned from iron, stone, and terra cotta on his buildings.  The Art Nouveau vines located at the ground-floor level of building entrances became his signature mark.

Frank Lloyd Wright

Wright Design

Frank Lloyd Wright was Sullivan’s chief draftsman for six years and was intensely influenced by him.  It was Wright who took the phrase “form follows function” and adopted it as his architectural motto.  Wright used it as the backbone for his famous Prairie School architecture of the early 1900’s.

The Panic of 1893

In 1894, Alder and Sullivan dissolved their partnership.  After the Panic of 1893 when investors made a run on the gold in the U.S. Treasury, expansion and economic growth slowed down. Over 600 banks closed and 1,500 businesses failed during that time.  The U.S. economy would take four years to recover.

Van Allen Building

Peoples Savings and Loan

Sullivan received a few more large commissions, but without Adler seeking the business, the demand for Sullivan's designs began to disappear.   Slowly, he went into an emotional and physical decline.  Never again would Sullivan be commissioned to design a skyscraper.  Instead, he worked off and on, designing minor building in small Midwestern towns, and writing books.

On April 14, 1924, Louis Sullivan died alone and broke in a Chicago hotel room.  When former student, Frank Lloyd Wright heard this, he paid for Sullivan’s funeral.   Sullivan was buried at Graceland Cemetery in Chicago; near the modern mausoleums he had designed for Chicago’s wealthy families.  A small stone was placed at Sullivan’s grave, and later, a monument was erected nearby. 

Chicago Stock Exchange

Louis Sullivan

Sullivan’s architectural goal was to create, in his words, “… architecture that will soon become a fine art in the true, the best sense of the word, an art that will live because it will be of the people, for the people, and by the people.”

~ Joy

A Look at Columbariums

Outside Columbarium

Similar to a mausoleum, a private or public structure that holds coffins, a columbarium is a structure that has niches or vaults to hold urns that contain cremains (cremated remains).

Six-sided Columbarium

It may consist of a wall or ground structure built of stone, brick, granite, or marble.  Or, it may be in a building where coffins and urns are placed in a comfortable environment with areas of reflection for family members to use when visiting.

Roman Columbarium

Roman Columba

Columbariums were first used by the Romans.  The ashes of loved ones were put in ornate urns and placed in sacred underground chambers, which were decorated with frescos and mosaics.  The word columbarium is from the Latin term columba which means, “dwelling place of the dove.” A columba originally meant a sectional housing structure for doves and pigeons, what is now called a dovecote.

Interior Columbarium

For hundreds of years, churches were the main places where columbariums were found. Many Catholic churches have columbariums located in them. The most favored locations for religious columbariums are within the church, or in church cemeteries.

Resurrection Mausoleum & Columbarium

Pickle Studio

One such columbarium is in the Midwest.  The Resurrection Mausoleum and Columbarium in Justice, Illinois, was constructed in 1969.  The Conrad Pickel Studio of Vero Beach, Florida, began work on the stained glass windows in the early 1960’s.  Over 22,000 square feet of faceted glass were used in the designs. 

Inside Resurrection

Outside Resurrection

This site has become a major architectural landmark and its faceted glass walls are the largest glass installation in the world.

The Resurrection Mausoleum and Columbarium is located at 7201 Archer Avenue in the Chicago suburb of Justice.  For more information phone (708) 449-6100 or visit http://www.catholiccemeterieschicago.org

Buddhist Columbarium

Since ancient times, Buddhism has also allowed the ashes of the deceased to be placed in urns and deposited in columbariums.  These structures may be attached to a Buddhist temple.

Exterior Columbariium

Mausoleum & Columbarium in Indianapolis

Now, public cemeteries and mausoleums have also added columbariums to their options.  A columbarium may be a freestanding unit, or part of a large, public mausoleum.

Inside Marble Niches

The structure may consist of an outdoor wall containing niches.  Or may be inside a building constructed just for this purpose. 

For Urns & Caskets

Columbariums are also located in public mausoleums, built in walls, along side the vaults for coffins.

The cremation urns or boxes are usually a specific size and are placed inside the lined columbarium niche.  The door is then closed and locked. 

Niche doors may be decorated with the deceased’s photo, or symbols of their life.

Garden Wall Columbarium

Columbariums allow family members another option when burial of a loved one may be too costly, or too far removed from where they are.  This lets the family “move” a loved one with them, if the need arises, yet still provides a special place where family and friends can remember and memorialize their loved one.

Interior Columbarium

A columbarium does not require an in-earth burial, but instead, allows for the interment of a loved one in a structure, away from the elements.  Most columbariums have seating available for the comfort of those who come to visit, and reflect.  As our world becomes more populated, you will see the need for more columbariums.  Will they eventually replace in-ground cemeteries?  Only time will tell…

~ Joy