RIP

Posted on July 20, 2010 2:00 pm

I was in a cemetery in Waco, Texas the other day and, quite by accident, came upon the grave of Poodie Locke, the well-known and much-loved road manager for Willie Nelson for over 30 years, and the proprietor of Poodie’s Hilltop, a honky-tonk in Spicewood, just west of Austin. Poodie died last year of a heart attack at the age of 56. His tombstone caught my eye from across the way, with it’s orange stone and super-sized Texas Longhorn emblem.

Headstones have been an interest of mine for many years, and I have profound and sweet (and sad) memories of times at Mission Park Cemetery in San Antonio.

Should a headstone make a personal statement? Where’s the line between good taste and silliness? How does one, or one’s family, distill a life into several words? With the decline of traditional stone-carving craftsmanship, what can reasonably be designed and produced that stands up to the best that’s been done in the past? What role can, or should, technology and digital iconography play in headstone design? (I’m thinking none, but maybe I need to get over it.)

The headstone of Paul Rand, one of the 20th century’s great designers, is composed of two stone cubes, one atop the other and turned 45 degrees. The lower stone is inscribed in Hebrew, and the lighter upper stone has Rand’s carved name and years of birth and death filling one face of the cube. The effect is modern yet timeless, solid yet dynamic, simple yet rather grand.

Sir John Soane (1753-1837) was one of England’s great architects. His eccentric and atmospheric home in London is open to the public, and is a totally cool museum experience. (Go at night for a candlelight tour.) While small, every nook is cram-packed with the art and antiquities he obsessively collected throughout his life. There’s a basement room Soane designed for Padre Giovanni, an imaginary monk. (Yes.) And there’s a crypt for his wife’s lap dog. The exquisitely simple inscription on the crypt reads, “Alas, poor Fanny.”