#memorials

I was listening to Gordon Lightfoot’s “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” on youtube, and browsing the comments several people mentioned …

Okay. The song is about the real sinking of the freighter the Edmund Fitzgerald on Lake Superior in 1975. And there’s a line in the song:

“In the Maritime Sailor’s Cathedral,

The Church Bell chimed till it rang twenty nine times,

For each man on the Edmund Fitzgerald”

Which references something that the actual Maritime Church in Detroit did in honour of the ship’s crew. And I just found out in those youtube comments for his song that when Gordon Lightfoot died in May last year (2023), the Maritime Church rang those bells again, this time 30 times. Once for every man on the Edmund Fitzgerald, and once more for Gordon Lightfoot.

That’s … That is a memorial I would be proud to have earned. And proud to give. I do like that. A lot.

Apparently, the Split Rock Lighthouse on Lake Superior also lit its beacon in honour of him.

"Roadside memorial" refers to an installation (usually makeshift/created by loved ones, not any authority) at or near the site where someone died on the road (for example, due to a car accident). These may include flowers, crosses, signs or banners with names/faces/dates, etc.

Add in the tags/comments what country you're from and if there are any local standards/traditions around these! Anon is a Kiwi and sees these frequently, but doesn't know if it's a regional thing.

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Stones and coins at the base of the monument marking the site of the Mormon Meadows Massacre (now usually sanitized of religious associations and called Mountain Meadows Massacre), Washington County, Utah, 2020.