Recently I was given an old picture by one of my many readers. I’m thankful for having them.
This picture is of the Maccabees large stone up in Riverside Cemetery.
You can tell it was taken by an older type camera than we use today.
Standing on each side of the fairly large fan-shaped Maccabees rock are two baskets of flowers.
Standing on each side of the flower baskets are two cute little girls about five or six years old. They are flag bearers.
The one on the right has an American flag on a pole, and the other little girl has another flag and you can’t tell what it is, but I assume it might be a Maccabees flag.
In the background of the picture you can see the little white building where I believe they keep the cemetery equipment.
I showed this picture to Helen Leich and told her I think the Maccabees were a ladies club or organization, and she thought so also.
I looked at my 1948 Dowagiac city directory and, sure enough, there was listed Lady Maccabees No. 10. It listed as officers Post Commander Cora Pemberton, Commander Katherine Salee, Lt. Commander Phebe Eaton, Kathleen Maier and Georgia Penrod.
Most of these names were somewhat familiar to me.
I checked other city directories and the latest one I had listed a total of 14 members at the time as officers.
This ladies organization was here in Dowagiac  for 10 years that I know of.
The big stone is placed in what looks like a triangle lot, with roads on two sides and had pretty good-sized rocks placed all around the triangle lot, but these rocks are no longer there, according to Helen.
If there are any survivor lady members of the Maccabees who would know what the occasion was that the two little girls were there as flag bearers, the year the picture was taken and the little girls’ names, I would like to know.
If you would give me a call or an email, then I could tell the person who brought me the picture what it was about, as the one who brought me the picture had no idea.
I myself wonder why the big rock is there. Could there be someone buried there?

“Cardinal Charlie” Gill writes a nostalgic weekly column about growing up in the Grand Old City. E-mail him at cardinalcharlie@hotmail.com.