"When God sends forth a special living soul to learn the ways of the earth, an earthly mother's love is waiting; we call this wonder birth. When God calls home a loving earthly soul and stills a fleeting breath, a Heavenly Father's love is waiting; this too is birth, not death."

"Our greatest treasure is our family, not only the warm circle around the Christmas tree, but all those whose lives gave us life, and those who will carry our love into the future."

I appreciate edits and thankfully accept them (please send links to primary sources; getting too many edits just because of "different opinions")...! If you have added photos for me, THANKS SO MUCH!...I never know, because findagrave is not sending me messages lately....some glitch in the program.

I am willing to transfer any memorials which are not my ancestors or relatives and will try to help anyone with information or research. I manage several memorials which were abandoned by others, about 400 to date - let me know if you want transfers after I research and complete them.

I think it is important to identify persons, when possible, so we can know who they are and who their families are, for historical and personal reasons.

2024 Update: Seventy five years ago I started looking for lost graves as Grandma sent me, at age 8, to find "the indention by the pine tree, near great great grandpa's headstone" so she could place flowers where a baby was buried in 1869 with no "marker". From her, I learned to look for that tiny "frosted"spot when the night before had been chilly (the ground is still warmer at a burial site which has no vault, even after 100's of years!) I first knew grief when Grandma died, 68 years ago. To honor her, I began genealogy research from her precious family records.

Sixty four years ago the death of my young first husband, at the hands of robbers, nearly caused the loss of my first unborn child. Years later, a miscarriage took another son and now, for the past 39 years, we have also grieved for our youngest son, lost to a freak accident. BRAD.

Writing personal histories has been a passion for over 60 years, since I found my relationship to Mormon Battalion soldiers and an early U.S. President. Being an unpaid cemetery sexton for the past 33 years has required mapping and recording (handwritten) of over 5,500 birth & death locations and overseeing burials and settings of gravestones for over 3400 persons. During this time, the birth and death records from 1854 at one cemetery, and from 1869 to date, at another, were located and recorded; exact grave locations had never been written down for 160 years!

I'm still hand drawing family lot maps for the latter cemetery for all owners. For over 40 years, I have composed poetry and short stories about loved ones' passing, both for my own and others. So.....am I a "graver" ?, a "griever", a "genealogist", a "historian", a "sexton", a "poet" or just kind of "nutty"?? (We ALL could have, instead of this, been lounging on "sum beach sum where", ya know!)

Anyway, I feel sad when an unkind remark is posted, or it is stated that Find a Grave was designed for one purpose and that "newcomers", who want to use it for genealogy, or some other reason than it was originally intended, should go elsewhere. I hope it is intended to help us all find burial locations, which should include photos, dates, and family links, if possible for proper identification.

Short bios also help identify specific individuals and search data sources can help us verify the positive location. That is why I believe that a gravestone, with poor or misinterpreted information, should be supplemented with the best historical facts available, if possible. After all, it is Find a Grave, not "Find a Stone". Sometimes, nothing else is available, but that is a sad case; unknown, with unknown dates does not tell us much, especially when there is no stone or it is illegible. I hope to help & will gladly transfer, edit, delete or correct anything I contribute; I'm slow, but I'm OLD, please have patience!

I really believe every family either has, or needs, a "Chosen One" who heeds the call, and follows the promptings, to record their family history. Mine surpasses that description, in that I feel a need to record the lives of any who call to me from the dust of mortality:

LONG LOST PAST
Your gravestone stands, so cold and lone
In tangled vines, all overgrown.
I wonder if it's hiding there;
And waiting for someone to care.

I see your name and faded date,
So worn from age and destined fate.
And now it seems to beckon me,
To touch its' face, for more to see.

I feel the script; Oh, can it be......?
My mind now reads your history!
So now I have a solemn task,
To document your long lost past.
~Shirleen Farley 2019

I'm SO GREATFUL To 2 Angel of Mine Valenciaღ Asiaღ for sponsoring my most loved sister, who went to her Heavenly Home right before Christmas ~ leaving us with a mixture of sadness for us and joy for her. The sweetest people work on this site ~ especially VALENCIA'S MOM !

Thanks so much to Renee for the Sponsorship of Our Sweet Rose...what an honor to be cared for by such a dedicated animal lover.

I am grateful AGAIN to Renee, Renny Rybanski for the sponsorship of my beloved Daddy and my loving sister's sweet husband - what a generous contributor she is...check out her loving memorials!

"When God sends forth a special living soul to learn the ways of the earth, an earthly mother's love is waiting; we call this wonder birth. When God calls home a loving earthly soul and stills a fleeting breath, a Heavenly Father's love is waiting; this too is birth, not death."

"Our greatest treasure is our family, not only the warm circle around the Christmas tree, but all those whose lives gave us life, and those who will carry our love into the future."

I appreciate edits and thankfully accept them (please send links to primary sources; getting too many edits just because of "different opinions")...! If you have added photos for me, THANKS SO MUCH!...I never know, because findagrave is not sending me messages lately....some glitch in the program.

I am willing to transfer any memorials which are not my ancestors or relatives and will try to help anyone with information or research. I manage several memorials which were abandoned by others, about 400 to date - let me know if you want transfers after I research and complete them.

I think it is important to identify persons, when possible, so we can know who they are and who their families are, for historical and personal reasons.

2024 Update: Seventy five years ago I started looking for lost graves as Grandma sent me, at age 8, to find "the indention by the pine tree, near great great grandpa's headstone" so she could place flowers where a baby was buried in 1869 with no "marker". From her, I learned to look for that tiny "frosted"spot when the night before had been chilly (the ground is still warmer at a burial site which has no vault, even after 100's of years!) I first knew grief when Grandma died, 68 years ago. To honor her, I began genealogy research from her precious family records.

Sixty four years ago the death of my young first husband, at the hands of robbers, nearly caused the loss of my first unborn child. Years later, a miscarriage took another son and now, for the past 39 years, we have also grieved for our youngest son, lost to a freak accident. BRAD.

Writing personal histories has been a passion for over 60 years, since I found my relationship to Mormon Battalion soldiers and an early U.S. President. Being an unpaid cemetery sexton for the past 33 years has required mapping and recording (handwritten) of over 5,500 birth & death locations and overseeing burials and settings of gravestones for over 3400 persons. During this time, the birth and death records from 1854 at one cemetery, and from 1869 to date, at another, were located and recorded; exact grave locations had never been written down for 160 years!

I'm still hand drawing family lot maps for the latter cemetery for all owners. For over 40 years, I have composed poetry and short stories about loved ones' passing, both for my own and others. So.....am I a "graver" ?, a "griever", a "genealogist", a "historian", a "sexton", a "poet" or just kind of "nutty"?? (We ALL could have, instead of this, been lounging on "sum beach sum where", ya know!)

Anyway, I feel sad when an unkind remark is posted, or it is stated that Find a Grave was designed for one purpose and that "newcomers", who want to use it for genealogy, or some other reason than it was originally intended, should go elsewhere. I hope it is intended to help us all find burial locations, which should include photos, dates, and family links, if possible for proper identification.

Short bios also help identify specific individuals and search data sources can help us verify the positive location. That is why I believe that a gravestone, with poor or misinterpreted information, should be supplemented with the best historical facts available, if possible. After all, it is Find a Grave, not "Find a Stone". Sometimes, nothing else is available, but that is a sad case; unknown, with unknown dates does not tell us much, especially when there is no stone or it is illegible. I hope to help & will gladly transfer, edit, delete or correct anything I contribute; I'm slow, but I'm OLD, please have patience!

I really believe every family either has, or needs, a "Chosen One" who heeds the call, and follows the promptings, to record their family history. Mine surpasses that description, in that I feel a need to record the lives of any who call to me from the dust of mortality:

LONG LOST PAST
Your gravestone stands, so cold and lone
In tangled vines, all overgrown.
I wonder if it's hiding there;
And waiting for someone to care.

I see your name and faded date,
So worn from age and destined fate.
And now it seems to beckon me,
To touch its' face, for more to see.

I feel the script; Oh, can it be......?
My mind now reads your history!
So now I have a solemn task,
To document your long lost past.
~Shirleen Farley 2019

I'm SO GREATFUL To 2 Angel of Mine Valenciaღ Asiaღ for sponsoring my most loved sister, who went to her Heavenly Home right before Christmas ~ leaving us with a mixture of sadness for us and joy for her. The sweetest people work on this site ~ especially VALENCIA'S MOM !

Thanks so much to Renee for the Sponsorship of Our Sweet Rose...what an honor to be cared for by such a dedicated animal lover.

I am grateful AGAIN to Renee, Renny Rybanski for the sponsorship of my beloved Daddy and my loving sister's sweet husband - what a generous contributor she is...check out her loving memorials!