No Greater Love
~ Love Set In Stone & Bronze To Nannie Graham Carr {1853-1915) ~

by
H. Kent Craig
©2005

I first accidentally stumbled across the Carr family plot in historic Maplewood Cemetery in Durham, N. C. , a couple of years ago.

At that time I was married to then-second-wife Liann and Liann was as big a history buff as I am and loved going to old, historic cemeteries and got me interested on incorporating visits to same when we would do one of our typical get-out-of-the-house Saturday forays where we'd hit new antique shops and historic home districts and the like.

I had run across Maplewood Cemetery when I was project managing a commercial job nearby and told Liann about it, not having time to explore it during the workweek but making the time the following weekend.

Liann having a reasonable amount of psychic sensitivity and I being an empath and "senstitive" as well, we were drawn to the Carr family plot as soon as our vehicle eased through the gates and when we drew near, we both could feel both the love and heartbreak, the deep devotion and sense of loss that engulfed the marble-border-defined family plot.

Being who and what I am, I immediately saw the echo of the spirit of Mrs. Carr inside its boundaries. I tried to communicate with her but she ignored me. I didn't push. I tried to find the echo of the spirit of her devoted and loyal husband, Gen. Julian S. Carr, but only the echo of the purest love I have ever felt a husband feel for his wife, a spouse feel for another spouse, remained. It was enough. It was more than enough. The clarity and selflessness of the love General Carr felt for his devoted wife "Nannie" (her real name) just overwhelmed Liann and I both. We were overwhelmed by the echoes of both raw and perfected love and emotion present, overwhelmed but not overtaken, well, not much at least.

Not much at least until we noticed the kneeling "Poem Angel" near the entrance to the Carr family plot with two of the most incredible poems about what pure, true love is, "Forgotten" and "Mine". When Liann and I sat on the marble bench in front of the back of the kneeling marble statue angel and read those poems, we both broke down in tears, both almost sobbing almost uncontrollably, a combination of both the strong ethereal vortex of the love Gen. Carr had for his wife and that Nannie, his wife had for him and her children who had been buried there along with them as they passed on as adults.

Finally getting her attention and speaking to her momentarily before she withdrew again both to her grieving and her joy of having been so absolutely loved by her dearly beloved husband, I promised her someday I would do a "memorial page" on my website to the memory of them, to help keep her husband's no greater love hasth any man ever felt for a woman and she - him alive if for just a little while longer in the grand scheme of the eternal arc of time; she replied that she "would like that" and it is in keeping that promise that I present, in my own humble way, my keeping of that promise to her on this, Valentine's Day 2005.

If you'd like to visit the Carr Family plot at Maplewood Cemetery in Durham, North Carolina, here's a link to its location courtesy of GoogleMaps . As you turn off of Morehead Avenue onto Kent Street, make your first right into the first open gate, go about two hundred yards and you'll see the Carr Family plot on your left at the first crossing of paved cemetery roads; park at the left-hand cattycorner across from it is best, you can't miss it once you go through the gate.

Take your time. Even if you're not so-called "psychic", absorb the love, the energy, the eternal peace that is present there. The courteous and polite cemetery staff, which are City Of Durham employees, by the way, since Maplewood is still owned by the city, won't mind you visiting one bit.

To save page-loading times, I have put many other detailed photos of the Carr Family plot on a separate page, click here to go there . The separate photo page even with the smaller thumbnails that are clickable to go to larger parent versions of the thumbnails still is around 400K in size, so it will take a bit to load even with a broadband connection.

By the way, I've Googled the heck out of both poems and have only come up with one passing reference to "Forgotten", a piece but not all of its verse being attributed to a "Mollie Fulford Brown," whom I can find no information on or about at all and the "Mine" not coming up despite Googling it to death. I feel a little funny about posting these unattributed, but the authors were not attributed on the bronze plaques beared upon kneeling Poem Angel's back and they're too important not to post, so I am.

If anyone can help me more fully attribute these poems, please email me any info you might have and I'll be more than happy to add it. { Addendum : I received the following nice email in March of 2005 which offers possible attribution to the "Mine" poem, thanks to Sharon Scanion for sending the information to me. ~ ~ ~ Dear Mr. Craig,   I have had a copy of the poem you call "Mine" for almost 9 years. It was given to me when my infant daughter died, by a woman who had also lost a child many years before. She had been given the poem by her grandmother, who had cut it from a newspaper (date unknown). My friend had carried the poem in her wallet all this time, so it was ragged and torn, and what she gave me was a copy. The poem is exactly the same as yours, with the exception of the title, which reads "My Jewel." The author credited is Ann Hope. I do not have any other information but am also curious about the origin of the poem. Thanks for printing it for so many people to see. I think it is quite beautiful.   Sharon Scanlon, Saint Paul, Minnesota }

So, make sure you're sitting down and that your glasses are clean or your contacts aren't too dry and take a deep breath and now enjoy reading "Forgotten" and "Mine", a balanced pair of two of the greatest testaments ever written about adult love, ever.

On this Valentine's Day of 2005, the first Valentine's Day I have ever spent as an adult alone, single, without a "Valentine" in my life, I can only hope to eventually find someone who will love me merely just a half or even a quarter as much as the near-divine love that Gen. Julian S. Carr felt for his wife, Nannie Graham Carr. I can only hope.