My Cemetery Friends: A Garden of Encounters at Mount Saint Mary in Queens, New York

By Vincent J. Tomeo

My Cemetery Friends is timeless. Walk with renowned author and poet Vincent J. Tomeo through garden pathways of life. Along the way, encounter other travelers, trekking a similar trail, embrace new acquaintances, and this will make all the difference. My Cemetery Friends is a celebration of life. It is six degrees of separation, how one can meet

• Language: English
• Publisher: Atmosphere Press
• Release date: Jun 1, 2020
• ISBN: 9781648261831

Vincent J. Tomeo

Vincent J. Tomeo is a poet, and was nominated twice for pushcart prize, Archivist, historian, and community activist. Vincent, is published in the New York times, evening street review, Comstock review, mid-America poetry review, edgz, spires, tiger's eye, by Line, mudfish, the blind Man's rainbow, the Neo Victorian/Cochlea, the Latin staff review, and grandmother earth (Vii thru xi), etc.To date, Mr. Tomeo has 1,064 published poems/Essays; The winner of 108 Awards; 149 public readings. Author of my cemetery friends: A garden of encounters at mount saint Mary in queens, New York, and the Usefulness of hippopotamus: A humorous chapbook for a trying times.

Book preview

My Cemetery Friends

My Cemetery Friends

A Garden of Encounters at Mount Saint Mary in Queens, New York

By

Vincent j. tomeo

atmosphere press

Copyright © 2020 Vincent J. Tomeo

Published by Atmosphere Press

Cover design by Nick Courtright

The cover page photo is from mausoleum stained glass window in the family name of Russell, Vault Row & 164th Street, Mt. St. Mary Cemetery.

The rear cover is a partial side view of the headstone of Antoinette Eloise Tomeo (1918-1988), Division 8, Section E, Plot/grave 63.

Certificate of Registration Copyright

TXu 2-139-996

Effective Date: January 14, 2019

Title of Work: My Cemetery Friends

No part of this book may be reproduced except in brief quotations and in reviews without permission from the publisher.

My Cemetery Friends

2020, Vincent J. Tomeo

atmospherepress.com

Figure 1: Google Map

Figure 2: Mt. St. Mary Cemetery

172-00 Booth Memorial Avenue, Flushing, New York 11365

Table of Contents

Dedication 3

Introduction 7

My Cemetery Friends 9

Meandering Through the Cemetery 16

Another Walking Occasion 29

The Cemetery Is an Open Book 34

History Is Alive in a Cemetery 43

The Cemetery Is an Art Gallery 48

Encounters in the Garden of Eden 55

Our Last Curtain Call 63

The End Depends Upon the Beginning 70

Acknowledgments 75

Bonus Poem: 9/11/01 (Poem Two) 79

DEDICATION

This book is dedicated to the ten soldiers from Corona, Queens who were killed in the Vietnam War, and also pays homage to all those who gave their last full measure of devotion in defense of our freedom. I honor their extraordinary gallantry. May they Rest in Peace and everlasting dignity.

Corona’s Stone Memorial of Ten Heroes: Ten Heroes Plaza, Triangle Park in Corona, 108th Street between Van Doren Street and Westside Avenue, Corona, NY 11368

Specialist, Fourth-Class, U.S. Army

Anthony Victor Campaniello

10/11/1946 – 12/19/1967

Pvt. First-Class, U.S. Army

Charles Philip De Tomaso

11/27/1946 – 04/29/1967

Specialist, Fourth-Class, U.S. Army

Randolph A. Edwards

08/27/1946 – 02/07/1968

Lance Corporal, U.S. Marine Corps

Charles William Eglin, III

06/02/1947 – 02/15/1968

Pvt. First-Class, U.S. Army

Leandro Garcia

08/02/1946 – 02/02.1968

Pvt. First-Class, U.S. Army

William Earl Gray

10/14/1947 – 02/16/1967

Pvt. First-Class, U.S. Army

Vernell Owens

01/02/1945 – 04/17/1968

Pvt. First-Class, U.S. Army

Charles Victor Piccolella

02/14/1944 – -/-/1966

Corporal, U.S. Army

Benjamin Robert Turian

11/10/1945 – 03/24/1969

Sergeant, U.S. Army

Robert Joseph Zerille

09/03/1947 – 09/11/1968

Introduction

I am interested in both the living and the dead because they remind me of how to live.

This book honors all the deceased who are interred in Mount Saint Mary Cemetery, as well as all those who gave their last full measure of devotion in honor and service to our nation, the United States of America, and are buried here and elsewhere. We honor them, and we pay homage to them. My story is a documentation, an eye-witness account of my walks through the cemetery for more than thirty-three years.

My Cemetery Friends is a compilation of new beginnings, of friendships and acquaintances made, of history, and of knowledge gained, as I trekked through the cemetery, which, to me, is a garden. I think a cemetery is also a place where one can experience six degrees of separation, by meeting people through other people. It is interesting how one connection, even in a graveyard, can have far-reaching effects. My Cemetery Friends celebrates life and comes full circle, starting with my encounter with Father Romano A. Zanon standing on a grave in the rain, and ends with his burial, his entombment in a cremation niche in a mausoleum and my