Lifetime Dedication to the Accordion

Visitors going to Lincoln's tomb have no choice but to pass by Mr. Accordion, Roy Bertelli.  As the story goes Mr. Bertelli was pleased as punch when he was able to buy the triangular plot near the entrance to Oak Ridge Cemetery.  A couple weeks after his purchase he got a letter from the cemetery saying they had sold him the plot in error.  What set Mr. Bertelli off, though, was the letter that followed from the cemetery's lawyer.  The lawyer demanded that Bertelli return the plot, otherwise the cemetery would take him to court.

Well, the crypt is there in the cemetery today so we know how that story turned out.  Bertelli purchased an above ground crypt and a tablet with an accordion engraved upon it.  Apparently Bertelli would entertain cemetery visitors by climbing on top of the crypt and playing his beloved accordion.  Mr. Bertelli chose to be buried elsewhere when he died in 2003, but not before arranging for perpetual care for his Oak Ridge crypt and tablet.

The Flintstone tomb is the final resting place for John Tanner, Illinois governor from 1897 to 1901.  I don't know anything about Illinois governors except that the last few have wound up in jail.  Tanner had integrity!  He was the first governor to not send in state police during a strike, he eliminated Illinois' deficit, he set up the Western Normal School in Macomb, and sent ten regiments, including one African-American regiment, of state militia to Cuba for the Spanish-American War.  I don't know if he played the accordion.

Comments

[Marie]

I'm so glad you got to see Mr. Accordion's set up.

[Joe]

It was a highlight!

[Loria Schleiff]

I also saw the tomb of Mr. Accordion when I visited Oak Ridge Cemetery last year. His life story is very interesting, especially when he defied the authorities by building his own crypt and played his accordion when he was still alive. He deserved to be put in that place because he's also a WWII veteran.