I have racked up experience visiting a cemetery within the last 1.5 years. It continues with a visit to Maple Knoll Cemetery.
Recently, I visited IRG (formerly IBM Woodlands) park in Rochester. I thought fondly about my mentor at IBM. He had passed away in 2015. It occurred to me that I had never paid my respects, as I had started returning to Minnesota for visits in 2019.
A bit of research was required. When he retired from IBM, he and his wife moved from Rochester to Maple Grove. He continued to teach at the University of St. Thomas and moved closer to it.
Looking up his obituary led me to this cemetery. It is roughly a 45-minute drive from Eagan to it. Most would think that such a drive on interstates is long. This drive is roughly my commute from Markham to my workplace in Mississauga, so I'm used to it.
I had no problem finding this cemetery. It's tucked away on a quiet residential street. It is on a grassy knoll, with Rice Lake on one side of it.
Being from Toronto, when I think of cemeteries, large ones come to mind, such as Mount Pleasant, where you need a directory and perhaps a car to get to the headstone that you want.
On the contrary, Maple Knoll Cemetery is small. I found my mentor's final resting place rather quickly. He is near the American flag, which seems fitting.
He was a gentle soul. He never flaunted the fact that he held many patents at IBM or that he was a professor. He was humble and quiet. He was a decent man. I was fortunate to have him as my mentor for two years and beyond after I was laid off.
It was nice to visit him. The calmness of the area matched his temperament.
It is a one-way entrance to this cemetery. The entrance is on the right when you are facing the cemetery. The downside is that it feels wrong to pull over onto a grassy part. Instead, I drove around and found a grassless patch of land to pull my rental car over and walk over to where he is.
Of course, you could park on the street, but I didn't see any parked cars. I would assume that it's okay, but I am a tourist in a neighbourhood that is new to me.
The cemetery seems nicely maintained. The grass was green, which was nice. It felt like being in that park in Rochester with him, but we moved northwest by a 1.5-hour drive to spend some time together.
It was a nice visit. I am glad that I got to say goodbye, albeit several years later. Better late than not at all.
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