A good number of Walt Crowley’s friends formed a circle around his memorial headstone – a flat and yet risible plaque lying on the grass – this afternoon (9/21/8) to share memories of Walt and scatter a few of his ashes in the vicinity of the plaque. Some of Walt probably drifted near the Thomas Prosch plaque, which rests so close to Walt’s that they are bedfellows now for eternity. This was meant to be, and it was historylink historian Paula Becker who first envisioned it so last year and then suggested to Marie McCaffrey, Walt’s widow and now his successor as head of Historylink, that it would be most appropraite to put the two of them near one another. Since Prosch could not be readily moved this meant putting Walt – his plaque – near to Thomas. And so it was done. Thomas Prosch was another historian/journalist whose typed 1901 manuscript “A Chronological History of Seattle” was a most important source for the construction of historylink – its many earliest essays on subjects of Seattle history. Jean (of this blog) took photographs of all those who said something and he has included some of these directly above.
After the memorial while returning to the car, I noticed Jean’s shadow on a headstone and so recorded it, and then also turned the camera left for a few more shots that fit into this panorama. It includes a few degrees more than one-fourth of Lakeview Cemetery. The center of the pan looks to the northeast. The cedar tree, in the shadows on the far left, is at the cemetery’s summit. Pioneer Doc. Maynard is buried at its base. I might have investigated the name on the far side of the big stone on which Jean’s working shadow was caste, but I did not think to do it. By late afternoon this Sunday, Lakeview was showing the beauty that lured Victorians to cemeteries for their weekend leisure and reflections on mortality. The site of Walt’s and Prosch’s plaques is about fifty or sixty yards directly behind me.
Walt and Marie’s plaque reads brilliantly, “Walt Crowley 1947 – 2007 Husband of Marie McCaffrey Co-Founder of Historylink Citizen of Seattle To learn More Visit, http://www.historylink.org ECV Marie McCaffrey 1951” A close-up of the plaque is included with Jean’s photographs printed above.
