William E. Lear - Greenmount Cemetery - Durango, CO, USA - Doves of peace on Waymarking.com

The Woodmen of the World are known today as WoodmenLife, a fraternal society that provides insurance to its members. Visitors to older cemeteries can frequently spot the tree trunk monuments that they placed at the graves of their members, although not every tree trunk monument out there was placed by the Woodmen of the World: It was common in the late 19th century to use a log to note that a person had died young, and many infants have such grave markers. Eventually, those tree trunk monuments became too expensive to produce, and headstones would be marked with a Woodmen of the World emblem of some kind. Earlier ones, like this one, featured a dove of peace with an olive branch in its beak, flying over a fallen log where the tools of the woodmen's trade -- hatchet, mallet, and wedge -- can be seen. Later ones would show a simple tree stump instead.

This gray granite monument is in excellent condition, and the detail is still very legible. The dove of peace is easy to make out, as is the branch that it carries. The inscription is:

William E.
Lear
1890-1911

Dum Tacet
Clamat

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"Dum tacet clamat" is Latin for "Though silent, he speaks." Note "Here rests a Woodman of the World" around the emblem: Many of these monuments were done by third parties who were not privy to the organization's thought process, and "Here lies a Woodmen of the World" would be seen on the monument. This time, they got it right, because Woodmen of the World do not lie.

Kind of dove: Dove with olive branch Used material for the dove: Other (explanation in the long description) Address: 900 Cemetery Rd Durango, CO USA 81301

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