Posts Tagged ‘Sue Hunter Weir’
# 198 Jack Ferman
Tales from the Cemetery by Susan Hunter Weir November 20, 2021, was a bittersweet day in the history of Minneapolis Pioneers and Soldiers Cemetery. It was a sad day because it was the day that his wife and daughters buried Jack Ferman. It was a sweet day because he was buried where he wanted to be—in his family’s plot near the cemetery’s Lake Street gates. Jack’s was our first burial in 22 years and the first in the 21st century. If you attended one of the movies that we’ve shown in the cemetery and bought some snacks, there’s a good chance that you bought them from Jack. He attended every Memorial Day program for at least the past 20 years and possibly before that. He was at all of our fundraising events, always present and always helping out. He was on the Board of Friends of the Cemetery. He wrote about his immigrant grandparents who are buried in the cemetery in an Alley story published in January 2016. He followed politics, both local and national, [...]
Memorial Day 2022
The Tradition Continues By SUE HUNTER WEIR After a two-year hiatus, Memorial Day will be observed in Minneapolis Pioneers and Soldiers Cemetery (corner of Cedar Avenue and Lake Street). The program begins at 10 a.m. on Monday, May 30th. Highlights include music by the Seward Community Concert Band (they begin playing about 9:40). Our keynote speaker is Milt Schoen, Vice Commander of American Legion Post #1. This event is supported by numerous groups and organizations including students from the Minnesota Transition School, Scout Troop #1, and American Legion Post #1 and Team Rubicon. We have a limited number of chairs so if you are able to, please bring a lawn chair. We hope to see you there. At 1 p.m., there will be an hour-long presentation about the history of the cemetery. Guests will be seated for the talk but are welcome to explore the grounds before or after the program. All events are free and open to the public. Everyone is welcome.
Tales from the Cemetery: Righting History
Bryan Tyner, Minneapolis’ first Black fire chief, pays tribute to Captain John Cheatham, Minneapolis’ first Black firefighter. By SUE HUNTER WEIR Something important happened in Minneapolis at 10 a.m. on Thursday, March 17, 2022. Street signs along the nine-block stretch of road between 34th Street and 43rd Street in South Minneapolis were replaced. What had been known as Dight Avenue became Cheatham Avenue. It’s the kind of change that causes some folks to rage about “cancel culture,” but others will see it for what it is—honoring John Cheatham, an honorable man whose contributions to the city’s history should have been recognized long ago. Charles F. Dight, a Socialist, served on the Minneapolis City Council from 1914 to 1918. He was one of three Socialists on the City Council at the time but the only one who lived in what was more or less a tree house that he built on 39th Avenue and Minnehaha Creek. He was described as a “conservative Socialist” [...]
