Vale Cemetery

Makers Mark

Look on the bases of this tall, simple obelisk in Section G near the Vale Crematorium to find the mark of its makers; the firm of Carpenter & Raymond, Builders.

Located in Dayton, Ohio, their offerings included monuments like this, as well as public memorials.

While it’s not unusual to see monuments signed by the stone carvers, markings like this are less common here.

Fell During The Battle of The Argonne

This granite monument in the German Methodist section of the Cemetery honors a young soldier who died on this date in 1918 during the brutal Meuse-Argonne Offensive during the final weeks of World War I.

The inscription reads:

Corp. Walter A. Looman
June 21, 1895
Co. L. 39th Inf., 4th Div.
Fell Sept. 26, 1918
During The Battle Of The
Argonne Near Cuisy, France

Walter August Looman was born in Princetown, Schenectady County to John Looman and Minna Graper. At the time of his enlistment in the Army, he was a resident of Stanley Street in Schenectady and was inducted in March 1918, just seven months before being killed in action. He was one of over 26,000 American soldiers killed in the Battle of Meuse-Argonne which lasted from September 26 until the signing of The Armstice on November 11.

After the War, Walter's mother, Minna Looman, was among the women who took part in the 1929 Gold Star Mothers Pilgrim to visit her son's final resting place in the Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery where a white marble cross* marks his grave.

*While some records and this cenotaph at Vale give his date of death as September 26, his grave marker in France lists the 27th.

--

The sun, now it shines on the green fields of France
There's a warm summer breeze; it makes the red poppies dance
And look how the sun shines from under the clouds
There's no gas, no barbed wire, there's no gun firing now
But here in this graveyard, it's still no man's land
The countless white crosses stand mute in the sand.

- The Green Fields of France, Eric Bogle

Vale will again sponsor an Owls of The Vale tree at the Schenectady County Historical Society’s annual Festival of Trees and we need your help to make this year’s tree even more special by donating an owl ornament. Ornaments can be dropped off at our office during our usual business hours or mailed to Vale Cemetery, 907 State Street, Schenectady, NY 12307. Or bring one with you to our Owl Prowl next month.

Check out last year's tree here:

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/14tYDVehmMg/

For more on the Festival of Trees:

https://schenectadyhistorical.org/festivals/

A new flag haas been raised over the restored Grand Army of The Republic plot.

Even from a distance, the recently cleaned monument of the Mathews family in Section H catches the eye with its distinctive arch shape and luminous white marble.

As a cemetery symbol, arches can symbolize triumph or the entry to Heaven. This example probably dates to the mid-to-late 1860s or early 1870s.

Delicate filaments secure a Monarch chrysalis to a granite monument near Wild Flower Avenue. The pattern of wings is gradually becoming visible through the green shell. Because butterflies emerge from these chrysalises, they are sometimes used as a funerary symbol with the chrysalis representing the tomb and the butterfly representing the soul emerging from death.

Like a cascade of September sunshine - Brown-eyed Susan flowers in The Dell

Thank you to a great group of guests who turned out for today's Civil War tour with guide Jeff Austin.