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Particularly drawn to the symbols — be they religious, military or otherwise — her full-time position gave her an education in the long-term ebb and flow of life and death in the city.

Speaking of the tombstones, she notes, “In the past they were much more ornate. The design was very important.”

Over the years the style of epitaphs changed. “Up to about the ’30s it was really popular to have the date down to the ninth degree. So, for example, died January 7, 92 years old, 10 months and two days.

“In the Dirty Thirties, people wanted to leave a permanent marker, but didn’t have a lot of money to do that. So you have really nice examples of homemade headstones.”

Some were made of cement, writing names and little else with their fingers before it hardened.

Various stones are sandstone carved into the shape of tree stumps. One at Mount Pleasant Cemetery where Makowichuk was based depicts a pile of rocks with a Latin inscription about stargazing — its subject an astronomer who climbed Mount Edith Cavell. A heart on top is for his wife, who also scaled the mountain.

Makowichuk spent her time in the seven cemeteries and one traditional burial ground maintained by the city, researching how we dealt with our dead in the past.

She notes down by Rossdale Burial Site, things weren’t always handled delicately as the city grew.

“Bones — how many stories of when they were developing that area, the guys were dumping the dirt how many bones were falling out.