Epitaphs: Sad or sentimental or silly

SALT LAKE CITY — From the trite ("gone fishin' " and "rest in peace") to the cute to the sentimental to the absolutely bizarre, epitaphs on graves in the Salt Lake City Cemetery combine to create a wide spectrum of voices from the beyond.

How about "Victim of the beast 666" inscribed on one Salt Lake cemetery headstone?

"Forever dancing, passionately in love" and "A true love story has no ending" are the inscriptions on two different husband-wife gravestones.

"Epitaphs are making a comeback," said Mike Ellerbeck of Salt Lake Monument, 186 N St.

His favorites are the inscriptions that show some humor. "I'd rather be in Paris" and "Trade me places" are among those he's created.

As one of the few certified memorialists with the Monument Builders of North America in the area, he's also made some strange epitaphs. For example, "He's dead, Jim" was one he inscribed on a headstone for one woman, whose late husband, Jim, was a big "Star Trek" fan.

As baby boomers continue to enter the memorial market, Ellerbeck said a lot of people these days want to design their own headstone.

The Salt Lake City Cemetery displays a huge variety in its stone monument work, too. From the routinely flat and routine square markers, to round markers, pinnacle-shaped, heart-shaped to eroded monuments — there's a staggering range.

There's a unique sign-shaped upright marker that points to two graves along the cemetery's northwest side. From Roman pillars and large vaults, to angels and Christ statues, the cemetery features a wide variety of monument types.

Undoubtedly, the strangest headstone inscription has to be "Victim of the beast 666." Lilly E. Gray died on Nov. 14, 1968, at the age of 77. Her headstone has become legend on the Internet, with more than 2,000 sites now speculating on the "why" behind that devilish reference to the Book of Revelation in the Bible.

Richelle Hawks on Ufo .com posted on May 24, 2009, what appears to be the best explanation of the bizarre inscription — that the surviving husband was not only eccentric but somehow blamed police for his wife's death, even though her official newspaper obituary stated she died of natural causes in a Salt Lake hospital.

(This unusual grave is located at X1 169 4E. That's the lot in the extreme southeast corner of the cemetery. From the east in that X1 lot, it is in the 14th row that begins with the "Myrtis Sealy Dorton" marker and then is the 26th grave northward in that row.)