Patricia Lu Bond

In 1992 I was living in Tucson, Arizona, but it would not be long before I was moving to Fresno, California. My mom, Kathryn Berkowitz, came to Tucson in June 1992 to visit me. (I recorded our visit in my journal and much of the following is excerpts from my writings.) We drove to Yuma, Arizona, where she was born, and one of the first things we did was got to the cemetery where her older sister is buried.

In 1942 Richard and Lu Bond were going to have their first baby. But Lu went into premature labor at seven months, and Patricia Lu lived for only seven hours. Two days later, she was laid to rest in the Desert Lawn Memorial Park.



The funeral program, for Patricia Lu Bond's burial

When my Mom and I got to the cemetery, we went to the office and found the location of Patricia's grave. We went to the location and searched for a while and could not find the headstone.



Site maps for Desert Lawn Memorial Park



We found a groundskeeper, Frank, who helped us to try to find the headstone. He stuck a stick into the ground to see if he could find a headstone that had perhaps had grass grow over the top of it. It hit something beneath the grass and we dug out the grass, but it was the wrong marker. We found where it should be, but there was no headstone to be found. Frank was wonderful and told us he would make a temporary marker for the grave site before we left Yuma that evening.

We went into the cemetery office to check to see if there had ever been a headstone placed on the grave. Mom couldn't believe that her dad, Richard Bond, would not have had a headstone made, but the cemetery confirmed that there had indeed never been one for Patricia.


When we came back to the cemetery that evening, there was the temporary cement marker on Patricia's grave. As far as either of us knew, we were the first ones to visit the grave since Patricia was buried fifty years earlier. It was neat, because suddenly Patricia Lu Bond became more than just a name on a pedigree chart, and I realized she would have been my aunt. I wondered if she would look more like my Mom or my aunt, or a combination of both.

We felt that Patricia deserved to be remembered again. At the time, I was working for a trophy manufacturing company, and I was able to order brass plaques wholesale, so Mom and I agreed that I would order a grave marker for Patricia.


Two months later, I was moving from Tucson, Arizona to Fresno, California, and I drove through Yuma. I drove to the Desert Lawn Memorial Park and there was the head plate! It looked wonderful!! I was so glad that we were able to do this for Patricia Lu and that I was able to do so much to bring it about. I placed four carnations at the headstone -- three red ones for Gma Lu, my Mom and my Aunt Marji, and a white one for me (it had been given to me as farewell gift from a friend as I left Tucson).


I knelt down at the grave and just began talking to Patricia. I explained that I had never done this before, but that I would do my best. I read the poem that was in the funeral program from her burial, "Crossing the Bar" by Alfred Tennyson. I also read the Hymn, "Be Still, My Soul" (no. 124), of which the third verse is the most significant:

Be still, my soul: The hour is hastening on
When we shall be forever with the Lord,
When disappointment, grief and fear are gone,
Sorrow forgot, love's purest joys restored.
Be still, my soul: When change and tears are past,
All safe and blessed we shall meet at last.

I had tears in my eyes and I said a prayer thanking Heavenly Father for my family and for the opportunity to have helped making this possible. It felt very nice and I felt very good! Peaceful and happy!

When I arrived in Fresno, California, I was living with my Gma Lu. I told her about the experience that I had and showed her the photos I had taken. She was so profoundly grateful for all that we had done for Patricia Lu.

For all photos and documents related to Patricia Lu Bond, click here.