Memorial Day, 2016, Part 1–Generations 2 through 4

On Memorial Day it used to be the custom to visit family cemeteries. As a young girl, my mother did so with her grandparents, and I’m sure my father did as well. When I was a child, my family did not live close to the burial places of any of our ancestors, so we did not continue the custom. I now live even farther from ancestral cemeteries.

Over the years, though, I have visited family cemeteries and collected photographs of many ancestral gravestones. Here is a virtual Memorial Day visit.

I’ll start by visiting the grave of my father, Captain William Abromitis, Jr., USN (1925-1975), in Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia. Dad died on active duty on board USS La Salle (AGF-3) while he was serving as Chief of Staff for Commander Middle East Force in Bahrain. At the time of his death the ship was in Karachi, Pakistan. Arlington has a wonderful website with maps and photos.

The next generation is my grandparents. All four are buried in Tamaqua, Pennsylvania, where they lived. My mother’s parents, Emerson Clinton Neifert (1899-1990) and Mary Irene (Weaver) Neifert (1898-1967) are buried in the Weaver plot in Odd Fellows Cemetery, Tamaqua. Changing cemeteries to the Lithuanian Catholic Cemetery, just outside Tamaqua, we can visit my father’s parents, William Stephen Abromitis (1901-1968) and Julia Mary (Sakusky) Abromitis (1899-1980).

The next generation is my great-grandparents. Six are buried in Tamaqua, and the other two are buried elsewhere in Pennsylvania. My Weaver great-grandparents, Edward Elwood Weaver (1870-1929) and Mary (Trewren) Weaver (1871-1948), are buried in Odd Fellows, Tamaqua. My Neifert great-grandparents, Roland R. Neifert (1870-1934) and Eva Ellen (Whetstone) Neifert (1881-1950) lived and are buried separately. Roland is buried in Mount Greenwood Cemetery, Trucksville, near Wilkes-Barre. Eva is buried in Christ Church Cemetery, Barnesville, near Tamaqua.

Three of my father’s grandparents are buried in the Lithuanian Catholic Cemetery outside Tamaqua, and the fourth is buried in the other Catholic cemetery in Tamaqua. They are William Abromitis (1875-1911) and Eva (Kruchkas) Abromitis Smuklinsky Drowney (1874-1948) William is buried in New St. Jerome’s Cemetery, Tamaqua, and Eva is buried in the Lithuanian Catholic Cemetery outside of town. My father’s Sakusky grandparents, Anthony Sakusky (1879-1921) and Cecelia Victoria “Tillie” (Buscavage) Sakusky (1883-1922), are both buried in the Lithuanian cemetery.

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