The Goods family has a long history in Alexandria. So long,
in fact, that though 80-something Betty Kraft (née
Goods) has lived in Delaware since age 19, she still
subscribes to the Arlington Catholic Herald. So when she
received the Jan. 15 issue of the paper, she was shocked.
“That was our angel, right on the front page,” Kraft said.
Catholic Herald production coordinator Stacy Rausch’s photo
for my story “Beauty in burial: Faith and tradition define
the aesthetics of Catholic cemeteries” was the first she had
seen of the memorial at St. Mary’s Cemetery in Alexandria in
decades. Kraft, who lives in a nursing home in Milton, Del.,
does not own a computer and no longer travels to Alexandria.
All the more reason for her to call the Catholic Herald and
provide the angel’s history.
Modeled after Kraft’s great-aunt, Mildred, who died of the
flu in 1918, the life-size angel was commissioned by Goods’
mother after she passed away. It was made in Italy and paired
with a giant cross made of Vermont granite – a tribute to
Goods’ father, an English immigrant and Union soldier “who
somehow emigrated from Vermont to Alexandria after he was
injured.”
“Some people over the years have noted the angel’s beauty and
size,” said John Hartchick, manager of St. Mary’s Cemetery.
“For me, when I enter the cemetery, the statue is like an old
friend who welcomes all visitors and generates a feeling of
calmness, in peaceful silence. It certainly is the most
prominent statue in the entire cemetery. I couldn’t imagine
the cemetery without such a treasure.”
Kraft’s connections to Alexandria go back to at least 1787.
The Goods were parishioners of St. Mary’s Church for
generations. The church was where Kraft was baptized,
confirmed and married. Her family lived at 228 S. Washington
St. – the house where her father was born and eventually died
– for 85 years, with shorter stints at several other
addresses.
But one of the places Kraft remains most nostalgic about is
St. Mary’s Cemetery, where many of her family members were
laid to rest.
“My family was religious about going to the cemetery with
fresh flowers every Saturday,” said Kraft.
One memory from when she was 11 years old stands out. She
remembers going to St. Mary’s Cemetery with her father and
sister one Saturday. But this time, her father forgot the key
to the front gate, which was then located on South Washington
Street. He told the girls to wait for him while he jumped the
fence and placed the flowers on the graves. Kraft, who
described her younger self as a “daredevil,” disobeyed. She
tried climbing the fence, only to get pierced by one of the
fence’s iron spikes. Her sister took her back to the car,
where they waited for their father. Instead of scolding
Kraft, the girls’ typically strict father rushed them home to
patch up the injury.
“My father had been in the ambulance service during World War
I, so his bathroom was like a drug store,” said Kraft.
Kraft calls the scar her “cemetery scar.”
For years, that was the only memento Kraft had of St. Mary’s
Cemetery. Now she has photos and the printed word.
Stoddard can be reached at [email protected].
