This week I am not writing about my family. So instead, I want to talk about a friend of mine who uncovered a heartbreaking story about the Colvin Family who lived near Columbus, Indiana.  My friend’s name is Mark Davis. We met many years ago in Crown Point, Indiana at one of his cemetery restoration projects. He runs seminars on the proper methods of cleaning and restoring tombstones. He has a company called Stone Saver Cemetery Restoration. He works and lives in Indiana. Mark gets hired usually by local townships or counties to go into an old neglected or damaged cemeteries and fix them.  He does amazing work.  He cleans tombstones and monuments. He fixes tombstones that are broken. He places tombstones back in there base and secures them. He adds the proper base to stones that need to be leveled and straightened.  Mark is an amazing guy!  He is a man of many talents and he loves a beautiful cemetery and so do I! 

While working on a job in early May of 2017, Mark found a family plot that was truly heartbreaking and he shared a little bit about it on Facebook.  I have shared this story on my Tombstone Tuesday Blog but I am going to share it here again today.

Colvin Family Plot

Knowing Mark, I am sure that it was this interesting family monument which first caught Marks attention.  And then, the story of this family touched his heart.

The Republic Newspaper – Columbus, Indiana – October 3, 1962

“The Time for Tears was Past” The headline read as the newspaper story reported on the tragic lost of all six children in one family on September 29, 1962.

“The time for tears was past on Tuesday as nearly 100 mourners gather with the Walter Colvin family under an overcast sky at the Bethel cemetery at the burial rites for the couples six children”

“The youngsters were suffocated in a fire Saturday at their home near West Harrison on the Indiana- Ohio State line where they had lived about six months since moving from East Twenty-third Street. “ the article read. “The Colvin couple held hands as the Rev. Ivan Miller of the United Lutheran church spoke the final rites, but neither wept. Their faces showed the anguish now past tears”

“ A procession of 50 cars followed the five hearses from the Barkes and Inlow funeral home and continues the trip to the cemetery where pallbearers carried the light colored caskets with embroidered flowers from the hearses one by one.”

It is hard to imagine the heart ache that this couple endured. According to Julia Terry, a Facebook friend of Mark’s, Barry, the oldest child found the fire and woke his mother, Mina Jo, who ran to the neighbors to get help. Barry remained in the house to tried to get the rest of the children out. By the time Mina Jo returned to the burning house it was too late and all the children were caught in the fire. Walter Albert, the father, was a truck driver who was on the road at the time of the fire.  Such a horrific family tragedy

Mina Jo Rice Colvin was born in Danville, Illinos on July 4, 1926.  She married Walter Albert Colvin on November 7, 1953.  She died on June 25, 1998 at her home.

Walter married Linda Grimes who also preceded him in death. She died in 1999. Walter was born on August 5, 1927. He was the son of Clifford and June Hansen Colvin. He was born in Paris, Illinois on August 5, 1927. Walter was a veteran for the Air Force in WWII. He was a member of the American Legion and the Veteran of Foreign Wars. He was a truck driver for Stone Container. He died on February, 17, 2009 in Columbus, Indiana.

Sometimes in our research we find tragic stories  and they just need to be remembered.  God Bless this whole family on this strange Easter Morning while we are all “sheltering in place ” due to Covid 19.

Have a blessed Easter.  He has risen!  He has Risen indeed!

Love, Jan