Yesterday, I shared a poem with my neighbor, Monica. When she didn’t know the poem, I moved from her yard to my living room and retrieved my copy of LaVerne Evergreen Cemetery Tombstone Inscriptions. On page 48 is the poem “The Touch of the Master’s Hand.” Decades ago, I was challenged regarding a poem in a “cemetery book.” My response: “The ‘editor’ can add a poem if she wants to.”

This eighty-five-year-old is delighted to report receiving a beautiful email reply to this blog message. Here is my reply to her.

Good morning, Cheryl,

SINCERE THANKS for sharing your story with me. That poem has long been a favorite of mine. Long before I started reading the tombstones in the LaVerne Evergreen Cemetery. “The book” was almost complete; I was “proofing” the “camera-ready” pages. Suddenly (miraculously) I realized the association between the name Myra Brooks Welch and the poem. Yes, she is buried there and quite possibly was a friend of my grandparents. I immediately walked across the room to the bookcase full of poem books and had Myra’s poems in my hands.

If you look at the copy of the book (listed with a link in that blog message), you will see that the poem is alone on a blank page. Of no interest to you, perhaps, but there are certain rules in publishing. We always start a new chapter on the right-hand page. As God my Heavenly Father planned it (?) the blank page was close to the documentation of the grave-site for Myra Brooks Welch. So obviously I added The Touch of the Master’s Hand to LaVerne Evergreen Cemetery Tombstone Inscription.

Sixth cousin, Lorraine, wishing you a happy weekend. Stay safe, stay healthy.

P.S.S. Please, please read the valuable information on this. website, this link.