Funny gravestones are no laughing matter, oh wait, yes they are! That’s the point. Some people take their humor right to the grave so that cemetery visitors will leave with a chuckle instead of tears.
Family history includes the good, the bad, and the ugly. It even includes the hilarious. When you discover your ancestors, you’ll find every flavor of jellybeans in the bowl. Those who had a sense of humor during their lifetime are likely to display it on their gravestones. Silly gravestones. Funny gravestones. Gravestones with puns. They make the cemetery so much fun that everyone is dying to get in.
“I Told You I Was Sick”
Some people just have to have the last word in every argument. Know what I mean? B. P. Roberts (1929 – 1979) is buried in Key West City Cemetery in Key West, Florida.
The story goes like this – B. P. (aka “Pearl”) Roberts was a hypochondriac who complained of illness so often that everyone stopped listening. (Or maybe she was just a hoot and a half.) Anywho, she got the last laugh by having the words, “I told you I was sick,” inscribed on her gravestone.
Apparently, Pearl wasn’t the only one in the family with a funnybone, because if you look at the very top of their family tomb, you’ll see a gravemarker belonging to Gloria M. Russell (1926 – 2000) that says, “I’m just resting my eyes.”
This must be a new spin on “Rest in Peace.”
Expired
In 2005, Barbara Sue Manire’s family honored her wishes by putting a parking meter with a “64-year time limit” next to her grave. Manire had “expired” on her 64th birthday, but her sense of humor lived on.
A Pyramid Scheme
Sorry, kid. We only know how to build pyramids up to a point.
Why did the Egyptians build pyramids anyway? To get to the other side.
Sacrifice
Many of you will understand the struggle.
The Mother-in-Law at Merry Cemetery
In 1936, Stan Patras began carving wooden crosses at Merry Cemetery to mark the graves of community members in his small town of Sapanta, Romania. For more than forty years, he kept carving, eventually completing several hundred crosses.
And they weren’t just ordinary planks of wood cobbled together either. Each one was uniquely designed for the deceased. Then, when Patras finished carving, he took up his paintbrush and added brilliant colors to the memorials.
Patras memorialized the deceased by carving their occupation, hobby, or talent, such as shepherds tending their sheep, mothers cooking, coal miners, and musicians playing the violin. He sometimes designed grave markers that showed how the deceased passed away, such as a girl who was hit by a car and a drowning boy.
Patras didn’t confine himself to traditional flowery epitaphs either. Inscriptions include references to priests who envy the wicked, drunkards, and even mother-in-law jokes, like this one:
“My poor mother-in-law
Under this heavy cross you lie,
And yet, if you had three days more,
You’d be here to see me die.
So, passers-by, do not disturb her,
For if she were to come again,
We’d never stop her tongue from wagging.
Her words and curses fell like rain.
I will keep quiet, please do so too,
And she’ll not wake to curse all of you.”
You Go First
“You go first.” Well, Hugo Furst did actually go first, but he did offer.
Golfer’s Revenge
Practice makes perfect. (Gotta love funny gravestones.)
You Named Him What?!
You can’t be serious. Yup, it’s true. Artemis and Ann Fish had a son in 1775, during the American Revolutionary War, and they named him “Preserved.” I get it. Sort of. They probably felt that their lives had been preserved during this difficult time of war, but unfortunately, he had to live with the name of “Preserved Fish” for the next 47 years.
The Fish family gravesite in Marion, Ohio, has an absolutely humongous obelisk. You can see it on the BillionGraves website by clicking HERE.
I’m Over It
At the age of 81, it seems Lola was just done. “Oh, well. Whatever.”
Life is Short
Life is short. Sometimes you’ve just got to giggle a little. Hehe.
I Told You So
George Jr. says, “I knew this would happen.”
She Was an Optimist
Doris Marie Seward, was known for her optimism, humor, faith, and generosity. She even battled cancer twice.
Doris embodied a belief in education’s transformative power. Doris pursued advanced studies, earning a doctorate from Syracuse University, and built a distinguished career in higher education: she served as Dean of Women at the University of Kentucky for 13 years before becoming a professor of human development and executive assistant at Pennsylvania State University in State College, Pennsylvania, where she worked until retiring in 1984. She approached life’s end with grace, quoting, “Life is not the wick or the candle…it is the burning.”
She preemptively erected her gravestone in 1976 with the inscription, “Home at Last, Doris Marie Seward 1917-20—,” instructing that if she didn’t reach the new millennium, it should read “She was an optimist”, a wish that was fulfilled upon her death on September 23, 1999, at age 82
There Goes the Neighborhood
Rodney Dangerfield (1921–2004) was an American comedian, actor, screenwriter, and producer. He was best known for his part in the film Caddyshack, in which he plays an obnoxious nouveau riche property developer.
Dangerfield’s career took a while to get established. He quit for a while and joked that he was so little known that when he gave up show business, “I was the only one who knew I quit.”
He didn’t give up entirely though. Dangerfield worked full-time as a salesman and part-time as a comedian. He eventually reached national prominence after appearing on The Ed Sullivan Show. He then performed regularly on The Dean Martin Show and appeared more than 70 times on The Tonight Show.
His gravestone epitaph says, “There goes the neighborhood.”
Holding Hands
In 19th-century Dutch society, it was taboo for those of differing faiths to be buried together. So a wall was built in Netherland’s Roermond Graveyard to divide those who were Protestant from those who were Catholic.
In defiance of this cultural custom, Colonel J.W.C. van Gorkum, a Protestant man who served with the Dutch Cavalry, and his noblewoman Catholic wife, Lady Josephina Carlina Petronela Hubertina van Aefferden, were buried in their assigned cemetery sections, but the hands on their gravestones reach across the barrier.
The couple had been married for forty years and will now hold hands throughout eternity. (Check out more gravestone hand symbols HERE.)
The Last Laugh
Look who got the last laugh! Merv Griffin (1925 – 2007) was a talk show host. He also created several game shows, including Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune. After so many years of announcing “I will be right back after this message”, Griffin joked that he wanted his gravestone to say the exact opposite: “I will NOT be right back after this message,” and that is exactly what he got.
Griffin is buried at Pierce Brothers Westwood Village Memorial Park and Mortuary in Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, and you can see his gravestone on BillionGraves’ website HERE.
That’s All Folks!
Perhaps you don’t recognize his name, but you surely would recognize his voice. Or should we say, “his voices”? American actor Mel Blanc (1908-1989) was the voice of Looney Tunes’ cartoon characters Bugs Bunny, Woody Woodpecker, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Tweety Pie, Sylvester, as well as Hanna-Barbera’s Barney Rubble on The Flintstones and Mr. Spacely on The Jetsons.
Blanc’s nickname was “The Man of a Thousand Voices”, and he is considered one of the most influential people in the voice acting industry.
When Blanc passed away in 1989, his family ensured he would be remembered for his voice by using his Looney Tunes’ famous sign-off as his epitaph: “The-the-the-that’s all folks.”
Blanc is buried at Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Los Angeles, California. You can see his gravestone on the BillionGraves website at this link: https://billiongraves.com/grave/Mel-Blanc/14068581
Find Your Ancestors
To find your own ancestors on the BillionGraves website, click HERE. Then select the tab labeled “Research,” then “Person Search”, enter a name, and see what you find. You can also search by the name of the city and state.
If you don’t find them right away, try alternate spellings. Or grab your phone and go document their cemetery so others can find it. You can even make a photo request to ask others to photograph a particular grave.
Don’t take life too seriously. Nobody gets out alive.
Happy Cemetery Hopping!
Cathy Wallace
