★★★★★
This review is 2 1/2 years overdue - and it never should have taken me this long.
Thanks forever to Kevin J. Monaghan and his incredible kindness and respect for the burial place of my Grandparents in the cemetery at 8500 West Chester Pike.
I had searched this cemetery numerous times trying to locate the grave stone; my grandparents were interred in 1952 and 1961. I have lived all over the USA, leaving Drexel Hill in 1986. I visited family usually once a year, and the illness of my mother in 2016 had me visiting often enough to stop by local cemeteries and the resting places of my departed family members.
My father had passed away at 60 years old in 1986; the last time I can recall visiting his parent’s grave site along West Chester Pike was when I was perhaps 12 years old in 1969. He usually went alone on his visits, and that cemetery was a distant memory; all I remembered was the grave had a nice size above ground headstone.
I finally made the call to Montrose Memorials to assist me in located the grave in September 2016. I received a call back explaining the locations and notifying me that a bush had been trimmed back for me so I would not miss seeing it on this visit.
I laughed on the phone, recalling I was too lazy to stoop down at dusk on my previous visit to look around that same bush; at my position, the bush was simply blocking my view of the headstone!
I was driving to Upper Darby from Wisconsin and was happy to receive the information. However, that was not good enough for Montrose Memorials. They asked me when I planned to visit the cemetery, and I told them a broad time range two days later.
When I arrived I was not really expecting anything; I was happy to rush to that spot I knew I had kept overlooking on two previous attempts – and there it was! Since my family had really not visited for decades, I did not expect much. However, I immediately could see the bush was timed nicely, the stone and site cleaned up.
I was so happy to have found my grandparents. My oldest son was with me; he was born 9 years after my father died; my father’s parents would otherwise have no meaning to him without visiting that grave site. It was a hard time connecting to my dad as it was – but at least we knew where his grave site was in another cemetery.
I knew my mother would soon be passing, and my siblings and I would then be the next generation left and next to “go”. This was my family heritage being passed down to the next generation.
My son and I happily walked back to our car – and while we did a pickup truck drove into the cemetery and right up to us. Without hesitation, the driver sprang out and said “Hi Mr. Block; I am so glad I caught up with you. I am Kevin Monaghan”.
After about 20 minutes of a conversation about my grandparents burial, Upper Darby and all kinds of things that Kevin and I shared as common experiences; Kevin handed me a folder with my grandparent’s burial information and some other information that might lead me to other family members I was not aware of.
My father’s business was situated next door to a funeral home in Ardmore Pa; we got to know those folks well. So I was always comfortable in those places as well as cemeteries.
Kevin made my visit to that grave site one of more than just respect for my grandparents and family heritage – he made it a lifelong happy memory. I have visited twice since then; mom passed on my 60th birthday that December.
The condition and upkeep of that cemetery are important to me – it is my only tangible link to my grandparents; my visits are far between and brief, but mean everything to me.
Thanks Kevin and all the Monahan’s for maintaining the legacies of our families so well. Thanks for the Montrose Memorial T-shirt too. Nobody knows what the heck it is in Wisconsin – but I proudly wear it around town anyway!
