Bopst Family Monument
Location: Area L/ Lot 192
Date of Placement: after 1901
Decedents: Bion Eugene Bopst, Mary E. (Bruchey) Bopst, Grace E. (Orem) Bopst
Monument inducted into the Hall in September 2023 (Class #3)
Location: Area L/ Lot 192
Date of Placement: after 1901
Decedents: Bion Eugene Bopst, Mary E. (Bruchey) Bopst, Grace E. (Orem) Bopst
Monument inducted into the Hall in September 2023 (Class #3)
This monument in Area L, not far from the rear of the Key Memorial Chapel, is a pleasant sight for sore eyes. It is also a restoration success story. For quite some time, earlier this year and the fall of 2022 that preceded it, the Mourning Woman statue that adorns the top of the Bion E. Bopst family plot marker was "out for repairs." This certainly topped its previous "headless" condition throughout the previous three years—the result of damage suffered from a falling tree during a violent thunderstorm that hit the cemetery in April, 2019.
The scene of "Bopst carnage" in April, 2019
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Williams Monument
The "Mourning Woman" is derived from Classicism and its association is with ancient Greece and Rome. When it comes to Victorian era cemeteries, these sentinels have been on-duty for well over a century and a half. They patiently watch over and grieve for the departed. Each represents an eternal mourner, often possessing a veil which covers her head. She is usually swathed in flowing robes as she keeps vigil.
Our Mourning Woman here in Area L even holds a wreath in her arm to symbolize eternal remembrance of the decedent, and a "victory over death." A like statue can be found in our inaugural Hall of Fame Class of 2021 with a home in Area R where it memorializes the John H. Williams family. Mr. Williams was a prominent banker who gave Frederick "Charity" the dog, an iron statue in front of his former home on South Market Street. The family also provided a home for Federated Charities and an observatory for Hood College.
Our Mourning Woman here in Area L even holds a wreath in her arm to symbolize eternal remembrance of the decedent, and a "victory over death." A like statue can be found in our inaugural Hall of Fame Class of 2021 with a home in Area R where it memorializes the John H. Williams family. Mr. Williams was a prominent banker who gave Frederick "Charity" the dog, an iron statue in front of his former home on South Market Street. The family also provided a home for Federated Charities and an observatory for Hood College.
The Bopst "Mourning Woman" in Area L/Lot 192 was placed over a lot purchased by Mr. Bion Eugene Bopst in 1901 as a place to re-inter his first wife, Mary E. (Bruchey) Bopst. Mary had died five years earlier in November of 1896, at the tender age of 37. She was originally buried in Utica Cemetery in the quaint hamlet north of Frederick City and along Old Frederick Road that boasts one of the county’s oft-photographed covered bridges. Today, the cemetery's adjoining church is known as St. Paul’s Evangelical Lutheran.
I don’t know what prompted this move of Mary's mortal remains to Mount Olivet, but I deduct that her burial at Utica could have been precipitated by the presence of relatives tied to her mother's (Margaret Jackson Bruchey) Jackson family that had ties to the Woodsboro area. Regardless, Mary Elizabeth (Bruchey) Bopst was re-buried here in Mount Olivet on November 14th, 1901.
I could not find any further information on the exact date of the memorial placement of our “Mourning Woman” on Area L, but I would surmise that it went in at the time of Mary’s re-interment, which would have generated a central “family” monument with her last name to give proper context to her individual, raised foot stone placed a few yards in front.
I don’t know what prompted this move of Mary's mortal remains to Mount Olivet, but I deduct that her burial at Utica could have been precipitated by the presence of relatives tied to her mother's (Margaret Jackson Bruchey) Jackson family that had ties to the Woodsboro area. Regardless, Mary Elizabeth (Bruchey) Bopst was re-buried here in Mount Olivet on November 14th, 1901.
I could not find any further information on the exact date of the memorial placement of our “Mourning Woman” on Area L, but I would surmise that it went in at the time of Mary’s re-interment, which would have generated a central “family” monument with her last name to give proper context to her individual, raised foot stone placed a few yards in front.
The Bopst monument is among the most beautiful in the cemetery. In my first year on the job here, I took several pictures for use in marketing materials for Mount Olivet. These included brochures, our website and Facebook. Ironically, I also used a beautiful fall time photograph (I had taken) for a title page within a PowerPoint presentation I often give on the preservation and enhancement mission at the cemetery. How's that for some foreshadowing? We are so pleased to have this beautiful gravestone recognized in our Monument Hall of Fame.