The Case of the Misplaced Marker

“I love a mystery.”

Norma Christensen, Hermiston, Oregon

Photo by Bill Tyne

Who doesn’t love a good mystery? Norma Christensen of Hermiston, Oregon (population 15,325) does, and she’s a bit of a genealogy hound. So when she read about a 19th-century headstone that popped up in a creek in Weston, Oregon (population 695) 20 years ago, and no one’s been able to figure out where it came from, her interest was piqued. The stone was engraved with the names of the deceased, their birth and death dates, and not much else. Armed with this information, Ms. Christensen took to the Internet, digging into genealogy websites and online archives. With the tenacity of a dime novel detective, she tracked down leads until she came up with the name of Athena Cemetery, five miles from where the stone was found. She called the historian in Weston and asked him to check the spot in the cemetery where the headstone should be. He did and, as Ms. Christensen suspected, found nothing but bare ground. After 20 years and 2 weeks, Ms. Christensen cracked the case of the misplaced marker.

Read the article → Samantha Tipler, Oregon Gravestone sleuth who ‘loves a mystery’ finds home for misplaced marker, The East Oregonian, December 10, 2011.