When Janet Edwards took on the job of mortuary officer at the U.S. Air Force Academy Cemetery in 1992, she had by no means seen a lifeless physique. She had by no means been to a funeral, not to mention facilitated one — and the first burial she needed to oversee was that of a 9-year-old boy.
The girl coaching Edwards suggested her to discover a solution to distance herself from the feelings of her new position.
“I found very quickly that I couldn’t do that,” Edwards stated. “I didn’t want to do it, because then I couldn’t care for families the way they needed to be cared for.”
Three a long time later, as the solely worker in her workplace, Edwards has managed about 1,500 funerals at the 100-acre web site on the south finish of the Colorado Springs-based Academy grounds.
The Academy cemetery seems to be modest in contrast with the rolling hills of marble headstones current at a spot like Arlington National Cemetery. At the academy, there aren’t any headstones in any respect. Graves are marked by horizontal bronze plaques nestled in freshly minimize grass.
For a short while annually — from the Friday earlier than commencement to the day after Memorial Day — the grave of every veteran is marked by a small American flag. With uncommon exceptions, it is solely academy graduates, personnel and sure eligible members of the family who may be buried right here.
Dan Boyce/CPR News
Dan Boyce/CPR NewsEdwards walked amongst these flags on Friday, talking in the type of light and comforting voice that would solely come from years spent consoling so many grieving households. She had been working with a household on funeral preparations earlier that morning. It’s what she does each day and her workload is rising dramatically.
She stated her first yr on the job, the academy performed 28 funerals. Last yr, that quantity had risen to 127 as members of the Academy’s early lessons go away in greater numbers. As the latest navy academy in the nation by greater than a century, many of the establishment’s first graduates are nonetheless alive. They are of their mid-80s, nonetheless, and Edwards stated she expects the charge of funerals at the cemetery to maintain going up.
She often consults with academy grads who one day want to be buried at the cemetery. Edwards is the identical age now that the Academy’s first graduates had been when she first began in her position.
“I get close to them. I tailgate with them. A couple of them are my ‘hockey husband’ and my ‘football husband’ when their wives don’t want to go,” she stated. “It’s a personal connection for me.”
Edwards described her position in life as honoring and celebrating the lives of the individuals buried in her cemetery. And, for her, every day is Memorial Day.
“I always get teared up when I tell a family member, ‘It’s our honor to welcome your loved one home to the Air Force Academy,’” Edwards stated. “They don’t expect it, but it is true.”
