Decoration Day

Image by Matito via Flickr

Decoration Day, that’s what my Grandma and Grandpa Miller called Memorial Day back when the holiday was celebrated on May 30 and not the last Monday in May.

The holiday, which was first enacted after the American Civil War to honor Union soldiers who had died in the American Civil War, was expanded after World War I to include casualties of any war or military action.

Although the day was meant to remember those who had died in the service of their country, many communities and families used the holiday to honor and remember any family members who had passed away. Some local newspapers, like the News Tribune in LaSalle, Illinois would also print a special insert with the names of loved ones who had passed away a day or two before the holiday.

When I was growing up back in the 1960s, I remember my grandparents visiting the graves of their parents on this day. A few weeks before Decoration Day my grandparents would go shopping usually at the Woolworth or Jupiter Store to buy two plastic floral arrangements for the graves of their parents.

Because there would be some traveling involved to get from one cemetery to the other (one was in Spring Valley, Illinois the other was in Compton-about a ninety-minute drive away), my grandparents would make the day out of it. In the morning my grandmother would get up early to pack a picnic basket with some sandwiches, fried chicken, deviled eggs and cheese and whatever else my grandparents were in the mood for eating. My grandfather would prepare a cooler with some cans or bottles of beer and if I were accompanying them, a bottle of two of soda.

Back then there were still a lot of these roadside tables and picnic areas for people to stop and have a lunch or snack. While drive-in restaurants were taking over the American landscape along highways and expressways it was still quite common for people to pack a picnic basket, especially on a holiday and stop at one of these roadside tables. There were even signs posted along the highways informing motorists that one of these areas was nearby. This part of American culture would change drastically when more expressways and freeways were built. I can still remember traveling a portion of Rt. 66 back in the 60s (that ran parallel to Rt. 55) and seeing a lot of these roadside picnic areas.