I am an avid genealogist. The past is very important to me. I spend a lot of time in cemeteries photographing tombstones to upload on the website FindAGrave.
I enjoy recognizing long dead people by putting memorials to them online. However, every once and a while something grabs me about a specific grave. It could be the name, or the dates or a ceramic photo. In those cases, I feel compelled to dig a little deeper. That's what this series of blogs is about: The tales behind those graves. Some of my subjects will be heroes. Some will be villains. Some will be victims. And some will linger in between, like most of us. However, don't be surprised if the tales are inherently tragic. These are grave tales. They all end in death.
I was recently at Gardens of Faith Cemetery marking the locations of the graves of my family members using the GPS function on the Findagrave phone app. Gardens of Faith uses flat markers, and the Murphy family plot became difficult to find after a nearby tree was taken down. While walking away, I noticed the grave of seven-year-old Terri Lea Sain. I immediately checked the Findagrave app. Terri was already listed on the website, but there was no grave photo. I took one and uploaded it. When I got home, I had to find out what took the life of this little girl. The mystery deepened when I saw her death notice and the one listed above it.
The Baltimore Sun (Baltimore, Maryland), 05 July 1966, Tuesday:
Wait a minute. Two Sains? Both of whom died the same day with their funerals being at held at the same funeral parlor and their services at the same church. I instinctively thought that they were sisters, but death notices indicated they had different parents. What was going on? I knew they were a double tragedy but of what sort? I had to investigate further. The story began, as have so many of our summer tragedies, with a weather report.
The Baltimore Sun (Baltimore, Maryland), 04 July 1966, Monday:
MERCURY TOPS 100 AGAIN
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The temperature in the city rose slightly above 100 degrees at 3:35 P.M. yesterday and Baltimoreans at home for the holiday sweltered into the third week of a heat wave.
At the airport, the mercury hit a record high of 102 degrees, at 3:30 P.M., a full eight degrees above the previous high for the date set two years ago.
No relief is forecast today by the Weather Bureau as temperatures are again expected to hover about the 100-degree mark.
One youth drowned yesterday and two others were reported still missing late last night. Attempts to locate the body of a fourth person, missing since 8 P.M. Saturday night, were abandoned by the Coast Guard at 1 P.M. yesterday.
City streets were virtually empty yesterday as Baltimoreans who were not at the beach apparently took refuge in public or private pools, or air-conditioned taverns.
Person Involved
The four persons involved are:
GERRY BOLDEN, 13, of the 1700 block South Charles street, who drowned about 8:45 A.M. yesterday while swimming in the Patapsco River at the foot of Light street near the Hanover street bridge. NORMAN BEAVER, 32, of Hyattsville, Md., who fell overboard about 8 P.M. Saturday while boating with some friends at Plum Point near Tilghman Island, about 15 miles south of Annapolis.
JOANN LOUISE SAIN, 9. daughter of Mrs. and Mrs. Joseph C. Sain of the 4300 block Necker avenue, Perry Hall, Md., disappeared from a family party about 3 P.M. yesterday. Baltimore county police, after searching all nearby houses, roads and woods, presumed that JoAnn and her cousin must have fallen in the Middle River from the pier at her uncle's home in the 200 block Patapsco avenue. Ten skin divers from the county rescue squad searched in vain until 9:30 last night.
TERRI LEA SAIN, 7, JoAnn's cousin and the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Earl Sain of the unit block Ebenezer road in White Hall, Md.
Bay Bridge traffic was reported as being relatively light compared with Saturday's record total of between 29,000 and 30,000 cars. The previous high was 28,499 cars, the State Roads Commission said.
An outdoor concert performed by members of the Baltimore Symphony orchestra drew an estimated 8,000 persons to Goucher College last night and caused a traffic back-up for a short time between Dulaney Valley road and Towson.
Elsewhere in the State, the only tie-ups were the result of concrete buckling due to the heat. The Harbor Tunnel police reported having to repair a slight buckling near the Potee Street entrance to the tunnel.
In addition, State police said a stretch of concrete extending for several blocks on U.S. 40, between Gold Ring Road and Chesaco avenue, was raised in spots from 6 inches to a foot yesterday afternoon due to the expanding asphalt.
Several emergency crews from the State Roads Commission were called to repair the damage and traffic was temporarily detoured, they said.
State police also reported a slight slowing of traffic because of cement buckling in the northbound lane of the Baltimore Beltway, just below the Westland boulevard walkway in Wilkens.
Hot weather and hotter baseball produced one case of heat prostration and one case of severe heat rash at Memorial Stadium. Local hospitals reported that their emergency rooms were treating many people for heat related illnesses such as headaches, stomach aches, sunburn and exhaustion.
The Hopkins Hospital said that the traffic in its emergency room has nearly doubled during the past few days, apparently because of the weather, and that the normal daily crush of 150 to 200 persons was now upwards of 300.
The Bolden youth drowned while attempting to swim from a barge, located about 20 yards off-shore in shallow water, to a sunken ship about a mile away.
Southern district police said that the youth, the son of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Bolden, was apparently caught in the current in the shipping channel and was dragged under
His body was recovered by police about one hour later and about 200 yards from the spot he went down. He was pronounced dead shortly thereafter at South Baltimore General Hospital.
Wow. Another drowning. Little Terri and JoAnn have joined my previous subjects Isadore and Solomon Gold and James Tully as drowning victims. I had no idea drowning was such an ongoing and persistent problem. It makes me shudder at my own carefree summer attitude about water during my youth, whether it be pools or inner tubing down rivers and streams.
The Evening Sun (Baltimore, Maryland), 05 July 1966, Tuesday:
Pedestrian, 30, Killed By Car; Eight Drown
A pedestrian was struck by a car and fatally injured yesterday in South Baltimore, raising the holiday death toll in Maryland to eleven, including eight deaths by drowning.
The pedestrian who was crossing Hawkins Point road near the United States Coast Guard installation on Curtis Bay, was identified by police as James C. Davis, 30, of Marion S.C. He was pronounced dead on arrival at South Baltimore General Hospital at 5:45 P.M.
According to police, the driver of the car that struck Mr. Davis, James K. Forster, 55, of the 1000 block of Webb court, has been charged with auto manslaughter and reckless driving.
Two earlier weekend traffic victims brought the year's toll to 352, or 47 more than last year on the date.
There were:
BENJAMIN N. GLICKSTEIN, 53, of the 6900 block of Marsue avenue, killed early Sunday in a collision at Broadway and Madison street.
DANIEL J. BRENNEMAN, 72, of Grantsville, MD., Garrett county, killed in a two-car crash near his home early Saturday.
Cousins Drown
Drowning victims included two young cousins, Joann Louise Sain, 9, of the 4300 block Necker avenue, Perry Hall, Md., and Terri Lea Sain, 7, of the first block Ebenezer road, White Hall, Md. The girls' bodies were found in Frog Mortar Creek after they had disappeared from a family picnic at Middle River about 3 P.M. Sunday.
Other drowning victims were:
BRANTLEY LINDER, 27, of Washington, D.C., who apparently struck his head when he dived from a boat into 4 feet of water yesterday at Long View Beach, St. Mary's county.
GERRY BOLDEN, 13, of the 1700 block of South Charles street, who drowned yesterday in the Patapsco river.
NORMAN BEAVER, 32, of Hyattsville, who fell overboard from a boat Saturday at Plum Point, near Tilghman Island.
LEON RICARDO, 18, of Timonium, whose body was recovered Saturday night in a water-filled quarry at Cockeysville.
DOROTHY J. MITCHELL, 20, of Annapolis, who drowned about 8 P.M. in Spa creek.
ALONZO D. GRATTON, 54, of Lusby, Md., who fell overboard while fishing from a boat in the Patuxent river Saturday.
Had just Terri or just JoAnn died that Fourth of July, I'm sure the Sain would have still been forever changed. The fact that the two children died together from the different branches of the family must have compounded the pain. I'm sure the uncle's house on the river, where the tragedy took place, was once a place of joyful family gatherings, much like my aunt and uncle's home on Wilson Point. I bet none of the Sains could ever step inside that house again without thinking of the girls.
Nothing gives me more joy than seeing my little granddaughters playing in the pool with their cousins. I know I will be thinking about the Sain girls every time I take my little darlings to the pool this summer...
Remember, there is a story behind every grave. You never know what you're missing when you walk past one...
Grave Tales:
My novel Chapel Street is now available! You can buy the Kindle and paperback at Amazon and the Nook, paperback and hardcover at Barnes & Noble. Chapel Street is the tale of a young man battling a demonic entity that has driven members of his family to suicide for generations. It was inspired by an actual haunting.
Learn more about the book, click
Here.
Listen to me read some chapters here:
Read about the true haunting that inspired the novel here:
The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 1, An IntroductionThe Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 2, The HouseThe Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 3, This Is UsThe Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 4, ArrivalThe Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 5, MethodologyThe Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 6, Clara's Tale, Pt. 1The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 7, Clara's Tale, Pt. 2The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 8, My Tale, Pt. 1The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 9, My Tale, Pt. 2The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 10, My Tale, Pt. 3The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 11, Natalia's Tale, Pt. 1The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 12, Natalia's Tale, Pt. 2The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 13, John's Tale, Pt. 1 The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 14, John's Tale, Pt. 2The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 15, Come Inside!The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 16, Marion's Tale, Pt. 1The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 17, Marion's Tale, Pt. 2The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 18, Jeanne's Tale, Pt. 1The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 19, Jeanne's Tale, Pt. 2The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 20, Lisa's TaleThe Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 21, Recap, Pt. 1The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 22, Recap, Pt. 2The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 23, Recap, Pt. 3
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