The Backyard of the Gospels monument in Oak Ridge Cemetery, situated close to the veterans memorials.
Man Sternberg, director of Starhill Forest Arboretum in rural Menard County (the most important analysis/assortment middle for the examine of oak bushes within the nation), can be the arborist for Oak Ridge Cemetery, dwelling to the most important habitat for uncommon and hybrid oak bushes in Illinois, if not the Midwest. Each October Man recruits greater than 40 volunteers to work the annual tree tour within the cemetery, the place interpreters talk about all issues “Quercus” (oak tree), and different species rising within the cemetery.
For the final 5 years, Stephanie Martin, director of the Sangamon Valley Assortment (SVC) at Springfield’s public library, and I’ve volunteered our companies on the annual tree tour to interpret a special website within the cemetery and do our greatest to be tree “consultants” for a day. This yr we had been assigned to the “Backyard of the Gospels” (Block 48), a novel suburb of Oak Ridge developed within the Nineteen Forties and Nineteen Fifties. Designed to accommodate flat headstones and centered round an oblong upright monument showcasing the “authors” of the Gospels – Matthew, Mark, Luke and John – the backyard is considered one of a number of themed landscapes within the “new” a part of the cemetery. Regardless of an annoying and recurring grammatical error within the carved textual content on the monument, the Gospels backyard is a horny function not removed from the Veterans memorials.
Every apostle is carved life-size in granite, with a short descriptive abstract of their gospel message, together with a consultant animal image (Matthew, winged angel; Mark, lion; Luke, ox; John, hovering eagle).
Initially known as the “Backyard of the Apostles,” the location was specified by a circle with the monument within the middle, with maybe a dozen flowering crab bushes surrounding the gravestones, the primary of which appeared within the Sixties. All however two of the unique bushes have died and been eliminated, however the remaining two nonetheless had blossoms on them final month.
Stephanie did a lot of the exhausting analysis in regards to the Backyard’s creation, combing by previous board minutes and newspaper recordsdata to grasp how the location was managed and marketed and to whom. Curiously, the ring of the backyard is full of headstones however contained in the circle is nearly empty.
A lot of the interments had been from the Nineteen Seventies, 80s and 90s, with the newest in 2024. There have been headstones for navy veterans from World Battle I, World Battle II and Korea, all eligible for Camp Butler Nationwide Cemetery burials, however however buried in Oak Ridge. Reverend Lele Clyde Corridor (1892-1971) served in World Battle I as a personal in Battery F, 48 Discipline Artillery, however got here again to Sangamon County, the place he labored for the Illinois Terminal Railroad and served for a time as chaplain for American Legion Publish 32. Someday within the Sixties he moved to Missouri however was later laid to relaxation within the Backyard.
Airman First Class John A. Steele (1934-2021) proudly served within the Air Drive in Korea and can be buried in Block 48. Steele was born in Beardstown and labored as a pressman for the State Journal-Register earlier than retiring in 1996 after 36 years of service. Steele liked to play golf, named an area golf event for his son, Michael, (who predeceased him), and died throughout the COVID pandemic.
Simply outdoors the perimeter of the Backyard is the grave of Dr. Robert Allen Harp, a cardiovascular surgeon and former chair of Southern Illinois College’s Thoracic Surgical procedure Division in Springfield. Harp (1929-1976), was an Air Drive veteran who had labored on the Mayo Clinic earlier than settling down within the capital metropolis. Through the Sixties, he carried out the primary open-heart surgical procedure in Sangamon County. He and his spouse, Rita Belle (nee Millard), had 4 kids collectively – Rae Ellen, Rhonda Lee, Robert (Robby) and Richard (Ricky).
What struck me as I learn Dr. Harp’s headstone was that his delivery date – Aug. 18 – was additionally the date he died. Curious. He was 47. Buried subsequent to him had been all 4 of his kids, who died on the identical day as Dr. Harp. Disturbing. If bells are ringing in your head, they had been tolling in mine. Rita Belle, though buried in the identical plot, didn’t share their destiny.
In subsequent journeys to the SVC’s newspaper archives, we discovered that Dr. Harp and his kids (ages 18, 16, 14 and 11) had been killed close to Durango, Colorado, when their twin-engine airplane – piloted by Dr. Harp – crashed in “hostile climate” quickly after takeoff. There have been no survivors. Though foul play was dominated out, investigators on the scene reported that the airplane didn’t ignite upon influence and there was no gas within the traces. It had not been refueled.
It will get murkier. Dr. Harp’s obituary, printed within the Aug. 20, 1976, Springfield State Journal-Register, listed his aunt, Ms. Pauline Harp of Texas, and an unnamed cousin, as his solely survivors. Was {that a} mistake or simply one other thriller to unravel? Additional investigation revealed the Harps had divorced earlier that summer season, and Rita Belle had remarried one week earlier than the crash to a person named Andrew S. Marcy.
Marcy, who died in Could 1982, was the proprietor of the A.S. Marcy Boat Firm at Lake Springfield. He, too, is buried within the Harp household plot. On Marcy’s headstone, Rita had the phrases “Mechanical Genius” and a picture of a small cabin cruiser engraved.
As for Rita, she took her secrets and techniques to the grave.
So many desirable and unwritten tales in our cemeteries. I hope you will have an opportunity to go to the Harp household in Oak Ridge sometime. They’re at relaxation within the Backyard of the Gospels, together with many others, whose tales are but to be advised.
William Furry of Petersburg is the manager director of the Illinois State Historic Society, a former editor at Illinois Instances, and a longtime Springfield folks musician.
