Widowed: No Dreary Memorial Brick for My Husband

Nope. There would be no funereal memorial brick for Jon.

The idea crossed my mind not long after Jon died, when a flyer arrived in the mail. Did I want to help pave the new plaza planned for our neighborhood shopping village? I could do that by purchasing a memorial paving brick and have it engraved — any way I wanted.

My first thought was to order a paver with Jon’s name and dates on it.

Jonathan Newhall

March 18, 1941 – February 19, 2021

But that felt like a terrible idea.

I pictured Jon, all by himself on the new plaza, with nothing but his dates to keep him company. People would walk by him — over him — and have no idea who he was or whether anybody loved him.

So, no. There would be no funereal memorial brick for Jon on that plaza.

But this plaza thing was a great idea for our village, and I wanted to participate. The personalized brick pavers would be laid in the sidewalk in the middle of town, in front of the frozen yogurt shop.

Jon and I used to take the kids to that shop. Drips of frozen yogurt often found their way onto that sidewalk.

Yes, I wanted to get a memorial brick with Jon’s name on it. But I wanted his name to be surrounded by the names of the people who loved him back in the frozen yogurt days, and love him still.

And so, as of this summer, there is a memorial brick on the sidewalk outside the yogurt shop. It reads:

The Newhall

Family

Jon, Barbara

Peter, Christina

Jon was not alone in his life. We were a family of four in the frozen yogurt days. And we are a family of four still.

Note: this is a NOISY video. The new plaza was dedicated with much fanfare last month, and I stopped by to check it out. Lots of local residents and vendors chipped in to pave the sidewalk in front of the frozen yogurt shop with memorial bricks.

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Where are those frozen-yogurt-eating kids now? On their own and out in the world!

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