AS HERALDS OF OUR FINAL RESTING PLACE GRAVESTONES SAY SURPRISINGLY LITTLE ABOUT US…A NAME AND A COUPLE OF DATES MAYBE..SOMETIMES BARELY THAT. NOT A CLUE ABOUT WHAT KIND OF PEOPLE WE WERE OR THE LIVES WE LIVED. YOU’D THINK WE COULD DO BETTER.

Tim: This is a perfect way to leave your mark, as they would say. I don’t think I could do anything else and I wouldn’t want to do anything else.

NAMES AND DATES HAVE THEIR PLACE BUT HERE AT DELPHOS GRANITE WORKS, ARTIST TIM MERICLE IS TELLING STORIES. HE’S TALKED TO THE GRIEVING FAMILY, GOTTEN CLUES ABOUT WHO THE DECEASED WAS IN LIFE, AND HE’S ETCHING IN SOLID GRANITE A LITTLE SOMETHING ABOUT THE MAN, A FARMER IN THIS CASE. THIS PORTRAIT OF THE FARM HE WORKED ALL HIS LIFE WILL BE HIS ETERNAL COMPANION. MERICLE SAYS REQUESTS HE GETS CAN BE EMOTIONALLY WRENCHING.

Tim: There was one boy who was crippled and I remember doing the chair he sat in and looking out the window all the time.

MERICLE’S HAD REQUESTS FOR ALL SORTS OF THINGS OVER THE YEARS…CLASSIC CARS, FISHING CABINS, THE OCCASIONAL SAVIOR, WHATEVER IT WAS THE DECEASED LOVED IN LIFE. AND THE FAMILIES ARE FOREVER GRATEFUL.

Tim: Oh they just love it I’ve had customers come in and look over my shoulder while I’m doing a farm scene or a man on a tractor or mowing a yard. Give you a hug? Oh yes, I’ve had quite a few hugs.

THERE ARE NO DOUBT MANY MORE HUGS COMING TIM MERICLE’S WAY, FROM GRATEFUL LOVED ONES WHO LOOK ON HIS WORK, AND REMEMBER AGAIN WHAT IT WAS THEY LOVED ABOUT THE DEARLY DEPARTED.