Neil's parents, grandparents, prior generations, and many other family members will be just a few steps away. The family farm where he grew up is but a few miles from the Church he attended as a boy, and the cemetery his father, and uncles, mowed for years.
Neil's Uncle, in his 90's, and shortly prior to his death, sums up Sugar Grove best:
"In Indiana there are a few acres of sacred ground to me, Sugar Grove Cemetery. In early farming days small communities developed in each township. They had their one-room schoolhouse and a church. Their social life occurred in these two venues. I was born and lived until college in Sugar Grove. The schoolhouse was gone but the church and cemetery remained. They both remind me so much of Thomas Gray’s Elegy Written in a country churchyard. Almost my entire family is buried here, going back to the early 1800’s. We worshiped here, attended funerals, weddings, Sunday School picnics, etc. I also worked cutting the grass. Clipping around each stone by hand paid a dividend—I learned the names and history of my family and community.
Both of my parents, my four grandparents, and three great grandparents are buried here plus most family members before and afterwards.
Perhaps a cemetery is the best place for solitude and reflection."
-Merritt G. “Gil” Gilmer 2009
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