So...I'm at the Mesa City Cemetery last week, I know strange place to just "be at" but let me explain. I am an avid genealogy buff. I love researching my family history. Unfortunately I haven't been able to find much out about "my" ancestors. Anyway I volunteer as a photography contributor for a website called "Find a Grave". It's an awesome website that allows you to search, and if your lucky, find members of your family that have passed on. I have found many stories and photographs that I otherwise would not have had access to.
My email in-box was filling up with requests from people across the country who wanted me to take pictures of headstones. On Tuesday I loaded my camera gear up into my daughters beach cruiser bike basket and off I rode to do my thing. It was a great ride down the canal to the cemetery and so much easier to hop on and off a bike to take the pictures then in and out of a car. A bike is the way to go. While I was there taking my pictures I met the nicest couple, Rick and Rose. When Rick and Rose take trips to different cities they like to look up famous people who might be buried in those towns. Who would have ever thought that Mesa Arizona had anyone famous buried in the cemetery. They led me to the grave of Wayland Jennings. You know, "Mama don't let your babies grow up to be cowboy's" and the "Dukes of Hazard" theme song Wayland Jennings. I also got a little history lesson while I was there. I learned the story behind the "Miranda Rights Act" A famous court decision that took place here in Arizona, and as a result came the act of having ones civil rights read to them if one should find themselves on the wrong side of the law. The man, Ernesto A. Miranda is buried in the cemetery. You never know who you might meet, dead or alive, when your at the cemetery.
