Thursday, February 12, 2009

Find A Grave

Find A Grave - Millions of Cemetery Records: "Find Graves
Find the graves of ancestors, create virtual memorials, add 'virtual flowers' and a note to a loved one's grave, etc."
Who is behind Find A Grave?
Who is behind Find A Grave? Well, first of all, you are. Thousands of contributors submit new listings, updates, corrections, photographs and virtual flowers every hour. The site simply wouldn't exist without the 500,000+ contributors. When it comes to administrating, building and maintaining the site, Find A Grave is largely operated by its founder, Jim Tipton. In addition to Jim, there are a handful of folks who work behind the scenes, helping out with Find A Grave on a daily basis:

Jim Tipton
Find A Grave Founder
Jim was born in Michigan but spent most of his youth in Denver, Colorado. As a kid, when he wasn't solving the Rubik's cube with his feet or juggling fire, Jim was figuring out how anything electronic worked. The arrival of the personal computer brought a whole new outlet for Jim's nerdy tendencies. Jim attended Grinnell College in Iowa and earned a degree in music. He now lives in Salt Lake City, Utah (non-Mormon) with his wife, children and three cats.

Jim created the Find A Grave website in 1995 because he could not find an existing site that catered to his hobby of visiting the graves of famous people. He found that there are many thousands of folks around the world who share his interests. What began as an odd hobby became a livelihood and a passion. Building and seeing Find A Grave grow beyond his wildest expectations has been immensely satisfying for Jim. Every day, contributors from around the world enter new records, thousands use the site as an educational reference tool, long-lost loved ones are located and millions of lives are fondly remembered. In what other line of work would Jim have met one of the last living munchkins, spoken to a gathering of grave enthusiasts in a Hollywood mausoleum and acquired treasures like his antique coffin screwdriver (it only screws in)?

Favorite Graves: Al Capone (my first)...Karl Marx (a frequent visit while living in London)...Richard Feynman (one of my all time favorites)...Al Jolson (for its unsubtle grandeur)...Lucille Ball (for its modesty). . .
Find A Grave - Millions of Cemetery Records and Online Memorials -the team


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