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Looking for things to do in Boston in addition to walking the Freedom Trail? Might we suggest visiting Forest Hills Cemetery in the Jamaica Plain neighborhood? This 275-acre historic cemetery, founded in 1848 and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2004, is the final resting place of poets e.e. cummings (all lower case on purpose) and Anne Sexton, composer Amy Beach, victims of the Great Molasses Flood, and so many more. Forest Hills is also known for its Contemporary Sculpture Path, established in 2001. We discuss “Resting Benches” by Danielle Krcmer & Lisa Osborne, “Neighbors” by Christopher Frost, and the intricate Victorian marble monuments of Gracie Allen and Louis Mieusset. Join Jennie and Dianne for their overview of this stunning burial ground that has never been just a place to end an Ordinary Extraordinary story, but one where stories, art and nature have continued to bring peace and fascination to the living for nearly 180 years and counting. 

Need an Ordinary Extraordinary Cemetery Podcast tee, hoodie or mug? Find all our taphophile-fun much here: https://oecemetery.etsy.com

Family Tales: A free printable, is now available! Gather 'round the table and dig into your roots! This interactive family history game is perfect for holidays, reunions, or just because. Ask, listen, and laugh your way through generations of stories and secrets. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1UT_R56qEwNTIxIBrTy8KFyVmGnFOe7g8/view?usp=sharing

Image Credits: Top Left: "Boy in the Boat" photo by LMJ and posted to findagrave.com on 10/11/2004. - Top Right: Gates of Forest Hills Cemetery Canva.com - Center Left: Portrait of Amy Beach in the Public Domain - Portrait of e.e. cummings in the Public Domain - Center Right: "Gracie Allen" photo by LMJ and posted to findagrave.com on 11/05/2004.

Resources used to research this episode include:

Forest Hills Cemetery , . "About Us/Resources/History/." https://www.foresthillscemetery.com/. www.foresthillscemetery.com/. Accessed 1 June 2026.

National Park Service , . "Forest Hills Cemetery ." https://www.nps.gov/. www.nps.gov/places/forest-hills-cemetery.htm. Accessed 1 June 2026.

Marx, Walter H. "Boy in the Boat Statue at Forest Hills ." https://www.jphs.org/. www.jphs.org/locales/2005/9/30/boy-in-the-boat-statue-at-forest-hills.html#gsc.tab=0. Accessed 1 June 2026.

Sammarco, Anthony M. "The Boy in the Boat." https://foresthillstrust.blogspot.com/. 21 Feb. 2010. foresthillstrust.blogspot.com/2010/02/boy-in-boat.html?m=1. Accessed 1 June 2026.

Poetry Foundation , . "E.E. Cummings ." https://www.poetryfoundation.org/. www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/e-e-cummings. Accessed 1 June 2026.

Brandman, Ph.D, Mariana. "Amy Beach (1867-1944) ." https://www.mawomenshistory.org/. www.mawomenshistory.org/resources/biographies/amy-beach-1867-1944. Accessed 1 June 2026.

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This past Monday, men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice were remembered in Memorial Day tributes across the United States, and on this episode of the Ordinary Extraordinary Cemetery podcast Dianne and Jennie chat with Ryan Seidemann who returns for the latest "Death and Dying 101" segment with questions his college classes have asked: If we can’t bring soldiers home, who’s responsible for their graves? Why did military headstones get simpler? Are remains from past wars still being found? Tune in for this conversation that digs deeper into the history and laws behind military burials, because remembering is only part of how we honor them.

Need an Ordinary Extraordinary Cemetery Podcast tee, hoodie or mug? Find all our taphophile-fun much here: https://oecemetery.etsy.com

Family Tales: A free printable, is now available! Gather 'round the table and dig into your roots! This interactive family history game is perfect for holidays, reunions, or just because. Ask, listen, and laugh your way through generations of stories and secrets. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1UT_R56qEwNTIxIBrTy8KFyVmGnFOe7g8/view?usp=sharing

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This week, Jennie sits down with author Daniel Grace to discuss his new novel In the Wake of Golgotha. The conversation weaves together ancient betrayal and modern violence through the intertwined lives of Judas and Pontius Pilate, reborn across two thousand years.

Daniel explores how the weight of history follows us. The book opens with a chilling echo of Golgotha, also known as Calvary Hill, the site of history’s most well-known execution and death, where one crucifixion sparked a new religion and forever altered the course of humanity, death, and even burial itself. That same shadow appears in present-day New York, where three men are found murdered in a basement, with Pilate’s words scrawled in blood on the wall.

Jennie and Daniel discuss themes of guilt, redemption, and the graves we inherit, both literal and spiritual, as Jude Issachar and Peter Pheiffer are forced to confront a cycle of violence and addiction that began on that sacred hill in Jerusalem more than two thousand years ago.

In the Wake of Golgotha can be purchased anywhere books are sold or through this link: https://www.koehlerbooks.com/book/in-the-wake-of-golgotha/

Need an Ordinary Extraordinary Cemetery Podcast tee, hoodie or mug? Find all our taphophile-fun much here: https://oecemetery.etsy.com

Family Tales: A free printable, is now available! Gather 'round the table and dig into your roots! This interactive family history game is perfect for holidays, reunions, or just because. Ask, listen, and laugh your way through generations of stories and secrets. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1UT_R56qEwNTIxIBrTy8KFyVmGnFOe7g8/view?usp=sharing

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Thirty years after her death, Erma Bombeck is still the patron saint of moms everywhere so it felt only fitting to celebrate her life and legacy with Mother's Day just around the corner. She wrote the messy, hilarious, heartwarming truth about marriage and motherhood before it was a hashtag. "I brought children into this lousy, mixed-up world because when you love someone and they love you back, the world doesn’t look that lousy or seem that mixed up." Join Jennie and Dianne on this latest episode of the Ordinary Extraordinary Cemetery podcast as they dive into her life, her funniest writings, and why so much of her humor and wisdom still apply today. ~ "When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left, and could say: “I used everything you gave me."

Need an Ordinary Extraordinary Cemetery Podcast tee, hoodie or mug? Find all our taphophile-fun much here: https://oecemetery.etsy.com

Family Tales: A free printable, is now available! Gather 'round the table and dig into your roots! This interactive family history game is perfect for holidays, reunions, or just because. Ask, listen, and laugh your way through generations of stories and secrets. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1UT_R56qEwNTIxIBrTy8KFyVmGnFOe7g8/view?usp=sharing

Resources used to research this episode include:

University Of Dayton. "Erma Bombeck ." https://ermabombeckcollection.com/. ermabombeckcollection.com/. Accessed 3 May 2026.

University Of Dayton. "Erma’s Life ." https://ermabombeckcollection.com/. ermabombeckcollection.com/life/. Accessed 3 May 2026.

Svoboda, Melanie . "Erma Bombeck: American Humorist ." https://melanniesvobodasnd.org/. 22 May 2017. melanniesvobodasnd.org/erma-bombeck/. Accessed 3 May 2026.

Britannica Editors. "Erma Bombeck." https://www.britannica.com/. 18 Apr. 2026. www.britannica.com/biography/Erma-Bombeck. Accessed 3 May 2026.

Wright Memorial Public Library . "Erma Bombeck ." https://www.wrightlibrary.org/. www.wrightlibrary.org/daytonliterarytrail/writers/bombeck. Accessed 3 May 2026.

Burrow, Christopher . https://americanwritersmuseum.org/. 5 Dec. 2017. americanwritersmuseum.org/erma-bombeck/?srsltid=AfmBOoppnJpZqPOqAuu-mrDG10c7-YCvqaUjSPmW-arGVd2-ebyHHZ_A. Accessed 3 May 2026.

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Sometimes a chat with your local butcher can lead you down a very curious rabbit hole and that is exactly what happened to this week's returning guest, historian Joy Giguere, on this latest episode of the Ordinary Extraordinary Cemetery podcast. Some history is easy to miss until you know what you’re looking for. In the 1920s, a surge of organized intolerance swept through American towns. It showed up in parades, in politics, and in the way some communities marked their dead. This episode traces how that movement tried to make itself permanent, and what the grave markers left behind can still teach us today.

Joy has been looking at archival records, historical newspapers, and local histories to understand how extremism became normalized, and in some cases, has been engraved in stone.

This episode is heavy. It’s important. And it’s not ancient history. 

Content note: This episode discusses historical racism and extremism in the 1920s. It is presented for educational purposes. We do not promote or glorify hate. This episode examines primary sources to understand how organized intolerance functioned in the 1920s.

If you have come across grave markers such as we discuss in this episode and you would like to pass the information along to Joy for archival purposes, you can reach her at: [email protected]

Need an Ordinary Extraordinary Cemetery Podcast tee, hoodie or mug? Find all our taphophile-fun much here: https://oecemetery.etsy.com

Family Tales: A free printable, is now available! Gather 'round the table and dig into your roots! This interactive family history game is perfect for holidays, reunions, or just because. Ask, listen, and laugh your way through generations of stories and secrets. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1UT_R56qEwNTIxIBrTy8KFyVmGnFOe7g8/view?usp=sharing

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This week on the Ordinary Extraordinary Cemetery, Jennie and Dianne are joined by one of their favorite living historians MJ Henion, to unravel a Civil War mystery that still haunts historians today.
Meet Brigadier General Richard B. Garnett, a Confederate officer whose story ends at Pickett’s Charge… or does it? Though he has a memorial marker in Virginia’s historic Hollywood Cemetery, no one knows for certain if his remains ever left the battlefield at Gettysburg.

From his early years before the war to his final moments leading men into that doomed charge, MJ brings Garnett’s Ordinary Extraordinary life, and death, into vivid focus.

Need an Ordinary Extraordinary Cemetery Podcast tee, hoodie or mug? Find all our taphophile-fun much here: https://oecemetery.etsy.com

Family Tales: A free printable, is now available! Gather 'round the table and dig into your roots! This interactive family history game is perfect for holidays, reunions, or just because. Ask, listen, and laugh your way through generations of stories and secrets. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1UT_R56qEwNTIxIBrTy8KFyVmGnFOe7g8/view?usp=sharing

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When the 2008 recession upended Eric Anderson’s career, he never imagined the detour would lead to cemetery service. But that’s where he found work that truly mattered. After walking through personal loss herself, his wife Megan joined him, bringing a heart for steady, compassionate guidance in life’s hardest moments.

Through prayer and perseverance, the Andersons were led to Thomasville, North Carolina, where they took on a big challenge: restoring Holly Hill Memorial Park. Brick by brick, conversation by conversation, they’ve rebuilt not just operations, but trust, compassion, and dignity in a final resting place rooted in community and love.

To learn more about Holly Hill Memorial Park, visit their website: https://www.hollyhillcemetery.com/

Need an Ordinary Extraordinary Cemetery Podcast tee, hoodie or mug? Find all our taphophile-fun much here: https://oecemetery.etsy.com

Family Tales: A free printable, is now available! Gather 'round the table and dig into your roots! This interactive family history game is perfect for holidays, reunions, or just because. Ask, listen, and laugh your way through generations of stories and secrets. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1UT_R56qEwNTIxIBrTy8KFyVmGnFOe7g8/view?usp=sharing

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On this episode of the Ordinary Extraordinary Cemetery podcast, Jennie and Dianne are joined by author Gigi Berardi to talk about "Bianca’s Cure", her fact-driven historical novel about Bianca Capello, who in real life was famed for her beauty, but Gigi’s Bianca is a scientist centuries ahead of her time,  hunting a malaria cure with the herb artemisia. 

Malaria, took the lives of many in Italy in the 14th century, including several members of one of Italy's most famed royal families, the Medicis. The same family Bianca married into. When her husband, the Grand Duke Francesco de’ Medici died, they found arsenic in his bones. And Bianca? Her body was never found. Denied a Medici tomb, she likely vanished into an unmarked grave.

Listen in for a fascinating discussion of medicine, politics, passion, and mysteries beyond some of Italy's most Ordinary Extraordinary graves.

Purchase your copy of "Bianca's Cure" here: https://gigiberardi.com/

Need an Ordinary Extraordinary Cemetery Podcast tee, hoodie or mug? Find all our taphophile-fun much here: https://oecemetery.etsy.com

Family Tales: A free printable, is now available! Gather 'round the table and dig into your roots! This interactive family history game is perfect for holidays, reunions, or just because. Ask, listen, and laugh your way through generations of stories and secrets. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1UT_R56qEwNTIxIBrTy8KFyVmGnFOe7g8/view?usp=sharing

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This week, Jennie and Dianne are "digging" into some truly Ordinary Extraordinary recent news stories from cemeteries across the US. First up, Lafayette, Colorado, where a local cemetery has run out of burial space, leaving families in a lurch despite owning plots. Then, on to the stunning shores of Lake Superior in Minnesota, where a historic pioneer cemetery is literally losing its graves to erosion, bringing skeletal remains to the surface and sparking a fight for state funding to save it. And finally, a story published by Smithsonian Magazine unearths a tale from the early 2000s in Chicago's historic Burr Oak Cemetery, where four men were busted for desecrating graves for profit, all thanks to a very specific type of moss! 

You can find the links to each of the articles here: 

https://www.cpr.org/2026/03/27/lafayette-cemetery-overcrowding/

https://www.cbsnews.com/minnesota/news/scandia-cemetery-erosion-lake-superior-duluth/

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/how-a-tiny-clump-of-moss-helped-the-fbi-solve-a-grave-robbing-case-180988328/

Need an Ordinary Extraordinary Cemetery Podcast tee, hoodie or mug? Find all our taphophile-fun much here: https://oecemetery.etsy.com

Family Tales: A free printable, is now available! Gather 'round the table and dig into your roots! This interactive family history game is perfect for holidays, reunions, or just because. Ask, listen, and laugh your way through generations of stories and secrets. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1UT_R56qEwNTIxIBrTy8KFyVmGnFOe7g8/view?usp=sharing

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Just as Women's History Month wraps up, Jennie and Dianne chat with author Sherry Sky Stuart about her fascinating new book, Forgotten Female Felons. Skye resurrects the stories of women locked up in the Colorado Territorial Prison, kicking off with the first female felon from 1872. With help from original prison records and other resources, she crafts the vivid lives of women like Catherine, a midwife jailed for abortion, or women who faced abuse, addiction, and the privations of poverty.

Forgotten Female Felons illuminates battles that mirror many of today's issues still faced by women. This heartening and raw exploration dives into a sidelined slice of history, proving these women's tales are as legendary as any of their male counterparts and deserve to be remembered and even reimagined.

You can order your copy of Forgotten Female Felons here:   https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0F913G91F/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0

Need an Ordinary Extraordinary Cemetery Podcast tee, hoodie or mug? Find all our taphophile-fun much here: https://oecemetery.etsy.com

Family Tales: A free printable, is now available! Gather 'round the table and dig into your roots! This interactive family history game is perfect for holidays, reunions, or just because. Ask, listen, and laugh your way through generations of stories and secrets. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1UT_R56qEwNTIxIBrTy8KFyVmGnFOe7g8/view?usp=sharing

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