Dear Dr. Scribblerbury:

Recently I visited the East Petersburg Mennonite Church Cemetery and noticed that men are buried on the right and the women to their left.

That's contrary to other cemeteries I'm familiar with where there is no established pattern.

I asked some friends why they thought this would be.

"That's the way you walk down the aisle when you get married," said one, "so that's the way you get buried."

Another guy said, "They bury them the way they sleep in bed."

Someone else said, "That's the way they sit in church."

None of this makes much sense to me.

What does Dr. Scribblerbury think?

Jim McMullin
President, Grave Concern
Lancaster

Dear Jim:

Dr. Scribblerbury doesn't think much when it's this hot, but he has discussed the matter with two men who would know something if anyone would.

John Landis, who took over as treasurer of the East Petersburg Mennonite Church cemetery committee after his father left that post says tradition has dictated placement of the deceased.

"That's the way it was started and that's the way it is," he says. "We recommend (that position), but it's not mandatory."

In fact, Landis says, there are several burials that deviate from the standard.

John Shenk, who researched the cemetery's graves, says much the same: "We've been following what's been done before."

No support for the theories that folks are buried in the position they take while marrying, sleeping or sitting in church.

It would be interesting to know if any other cemetery in the county follows this tradition, or an opposite one.

Dear Dr. Scribbleroses:

I grew up on Roselle Avenue in Bausman and I've always wondered why so many streets there have "rose" in them.

There's Roselle and Roselawn, Rosedale and Montrose.

Did they develop new roses in Bausman?

Was it the developer's idea?

Lee Amigh
Millersville

Dear Lee:

This should be simple.

The Scribbler contacts Tom Schaller, chairman of Lancaster Township's supervisors and a Bausman resident.

He doesn't have a clue.

So the Scribbler contacts Ginny Gibble, of the Lancaster Township Historical Commission.

She doesn't have a clue, even after asking Lancaster County historian Jack Loose and township residents Gordon Reed, Geri Gilbert, Betty Miller and Marcia Trach.

Marcia, however, does have something to say on this topic.

"We have plenty of surmises, but to no avail!" she says. "We have not found greenhouses in the area. We have not found the wives, daughters or mothers of the developers named Rose. We have not found wild roses growing there."

Another mystery for Dr. Scribblerose's enlightened readers to resolve.

Dear Dr. Scribblerduffer:

Some of us were reminiscing about golfing as kids. Do you know the dates the following golf courses closed: Long's Park, Williamson's Park and Hiemenz?

Ed Shoenberger
Lititz

Dear Ed:

The three public golf courses in the city and suburbs that the Scribbler knows anything about were at Long's, Williamson and Buchmiller parks.

They all closed in the years after World War II.

But Dr. Scribblerduffer would have to take a double bogie on Heimenz if it were not for Lancastrian Fred Daum, who worked on that course for several years and set the course record.

"It may have lasted into the 1960s," Daum says.

The course, established by John Hiemenz, was laid out across the New Holland Pike from the Lancaster Country Club. That area is now Country Club Heights.

Originally it was a 10-hole course, Daum recalls. A small housing development on the fifth hole reduced the holes to nine.

Par on the 10-hole course was 37.

Daum shot a 34.

Contact The Scribbler: jbrubaker@lnpnews.com , or 291-8781.