Elma has two fraternal cemeteries. The Odd Fellows Cemetery is located next to Grays Harbor Fairground and Event Center.
This fraternal group, established in America in 1819, was dedicated to assisting those in need, including Odd Fellow Members and their families. Members and their families were provided with food, nursing care, and the opportunity to purchase burial sites. Newly established Lodges purchased land in new towns for cemeteries where their Members and families could be inferred. Odd Fellow Cemeteries were often open to the public and plots were sold to help defray the cost of the land purchase and fund other projects.
walk the grounds of
The Veterans Memorial
I gravitate toward the older section of the cemetery.
in 1937 at age 71.
Harriet Stancliff died in
1907 at age 71.
The monument is beautiful.
at 80 years of age.
The Sheaf of Wheat on the
side of the monument
symbolizes resurrection.
This monument has the
Annie Corbett died in 1905 at
the age of 27.
The Draped Cloth symbolizes
mourning.
Three Link Chain, the
Odd Fellows Symbol.
Elliott Grips died in
Though difficult to see, the
Abell monument has the Odd
Fellows Three Link Chain.
1896 at 19.
Nearby is another Harding
This Harding monument
has a Masonic Square &
Compass carved into it.
I wonder why Mr. Harding
bought a plot here & not
at the Masonic Cemetery
at the other end of town.
monument with a Triangle
& the inscription Faith,
Hope & Charity.
The fish on the flag flying
The Kane plots are enclosed
by stone & sit beneath
shade trees.
above the Boiling plot
is an Ichthys, an early
Christian symbol.
The markers here are shorter or flush, which is more in keeping with current cemetery marker styling. This cemetery, along with the Masonic Cemetery is now administered and maintained by Elma.
