I was dressed and on the northbound No. 17 bus, heading into the beautiful sunny morning with my mind noting which parts of Woodland Cemetery I wanted to capture with my camera. Woodland offers a rare beauty during g the spring months when everything is in bloom.

I started along Fairground Avenue and immediately felt pain and discomfort cursing every area of my body. I considered turning around to grab No. 17 south but I believed I could walk it off.

How wrong I was.

Once inside the enormous front gate, I calculated a fierce reduction in my allotted two hours of scouring three-fourths of the cemetery.

I went directly to the Children’s section of the mausoleum to visit Emily Crouch, the sister of my former students, Ryan and Molly Crouch. I always stopped to say, “Hello,” to Emily and send a snapshot to the Crouch family to let them know I was remembering their infant daughter and sister. Today, however, I was introduced to Felicia’s urn beside Emily’s cremains. I knew Ryan and Molly had placed their mother’s urn next to Emily but I was still a bit taken aback. Felicia and my mother got to know one another and Felicia dubbed Mother, “Lady Diana,” or simply, “Lady Di.”

Sadly, the grounds only exhibited tulips and daffodils and not the splendid array of a colorful springtime. I had slipped four additional camera batteries into my pocket in preparation of taking 400+ photographs… only one was needed.

Thankfully, there was some roadwork that solidly deterred me from attempting the trek to the Deeds’ mausoleum. Instead, I hobbled to the Wright Family’s plot, paid my respects, and then braved my way the few hundred yards to the pinnacle to look out over the City of Dayton and The Miami Valley.

After a bite to eat at Burger King, a semi-tradition, I grabbed several buses to the shopping plaza across from Kettering’s Delco Park, and was back home by 2:15 PM. The Quintet was seemingly excited to see me… I mean, excited to rush outside to pee.

By 2:30 PM, I was napping with the three younger pooches pressed beside me.

Additional photos of Woodland Cemetery, April 2025