The Baldwin County Genealogical Society will host H. F. "Tige" Marston, Cemetery Manager for the City of Mobile and the city's on-site staff person at the 175 year-old Magnolia Cemetery, on May 11 beginning at 10 a.m. at the Foley Public Library, 319 E. Laurel Avenue in Foley.
Marston's presentation, "The Victorian Cemetery: Death and Art in a Place of the Living" looks at the history of Mobile's Victorian cemeteries, Victorian burial customs and the language of Victorian funerary art and symbolism.
Marston is responsible for the daily management and operation of Magnolia Cemetery, Church Street Graveyard and the City Sexton's Office which maintains records for all final dispositions within the City of Mobile; and for all of Mobile's day to day family service and record systems duties at both cemeteries and the educational programs related to Mobile's historic municipal cemeteries.
A lifelong resident of Mobile, Marston attended the McGill Institute, now McGill-Toolen High School, and the University of South Alabama. A second generation cemeterian, he has been employed by the City of Mobile for seventeen years. His 40 years in the cemetery profession include being Director of the Catholic Cemetery of Mobile, Vice President of Mobile Memorial Gardens, and Family Service Counselor for Radney Funeral Homes, Bayview Funeral Homes and Fairhope Memory Gardens.
The Baldwin County Genealogical Society is a nonprofit organization that meets the second Saturday of each month in the meeting room of the Foley Public Library. The public is welcome to attend.