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Thirty years after her death, Erma Bombeck is still the patron saint of moms everywhere so it felt only fitting to celebrate her life and legacy with Mother's Day just around the corner. She wrote the messy, hilarious, heartwarming truth about marriage and motherhood before it was a hashtag. "I brought children into this lousy, mixed-up world because when you love someone and they love you back, the world doesn’t look that lousy or seem that mixed up." Join Jennie and Dianne on this latest episode of the Ordinary Extraordinary Cemetery podcast as they dive into her life, her funniest writings, and why so much of her humor and wisdom still apply today. ~ "When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left, and could say: “I used everything you gave me."

Need an Ordinary Extraordinary Cemetery Podcast tee, hoodie or mug? Find all our taphophile-fun much here: https://oecemetery.etsy.com

Family Tales: A free printable, is now available! Gather 'round the table and dig into your roots! This interactive family history game is perfect for holidays, reunions, or just because. Ask, listen, and laugh your way through generations of stories and secrets. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1UT_R56qEwNTIxIBrTy8KFyVmGnFOe7g8/view?usp=sharing

Resources used to research this episode include:

University Of Dayton. "Erma Bombeck ." https://ermabombeckcollection.com/. ermabombeckcollection.com/. Accessed 3 May 2026.

University Of Dayton. "Erma’s Life ." https://ermabombeckcollection.com/. ermabombeckcollection.com/life/. Accessed 3 May 2026.

Svoboda, Melanie . "Erma Bombeck: American Humorist ." https://melanniesvobodasnd.org/. 22 May 2017. melanniesvobodasnd.org/erma-bombeck/. Accessed 3 May 2026.

Britannica Editors. "Erma Bombeck." https://www.britannica.com/. 18 Apr. 2026. www.britannica.com/biography/Erma-Bombeck. Accessed 3 May 2026.

Wright Memorial Public Library . "Erma Bombeck ." https://www.wrightlibrary.org/. www.wrightlibrary.org/daytonliterarytrail/writers/bombeck. Accessed 3 May 2026.

Burrow, Christopher . https://americanwritersmuseum.org/. 5 Dec. 2017. americanwritersmuseum.org/erma-bombeck/?srsltid=AfmBOoppnJpZqPOqAuu-mrDG10c7-YCvqaUjSPmW-arGVd2-ebyHHZ_A. Accessed 3 May 2026.

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Sometimes a chat with your local butcher can lead you down a very curious rabbit hole and that is exactly what happened to this week's returning guest, historian Joy Giguere, on this latest episode of the Ordinary Extraordinary Cemetery podcast. Some history is easy to miss until you know what you’re looking for. In the 1920s, a surge of organized intolerance swept through American towns. It showed up in parades, in politics, and in the way some communities marked their dead. This episode traces how that movement tried to make itself permanent, and what the grave markers left behind can still teach us today.

Joy has been looking at archival records, historical newspapers, and local histories to understand how extremism became normalized, and in some cases, has been engraved in stone.

This episode is heavy. It’s important. And it’s not ancient history.

Content note: This episode discusses historical racism and extremism in the 1920s. It is presented for educational purposes. We do not promote or glorify hate. This episode examines primary sources to understand how organized intolerance functioned in the 1920s.

If you have come across grave markers such as we discuss in this episode and you would like to pass the information along to Joy for archival purposes, you can reach her at: jmg66@psu.edu

Need an Ordinary Extraordinary Cemetery Podcast tee, hoodie or mug? Find all our taphophile-fun much here: https://oecemetery.etsy.com

Family Tales: A free printable, is now available! Gather 'round the table and dig into your roots! This interactive family history game is perfect for holidays, reunions, or just because. Ask, listen, and laugh your way through generations of stories and secrets. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1UT_R56qEwNTIxIBrTy8KFyVmGnFOe7g8/view?usp=sharing

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This week on the Ordinary Extraordinary Cemetery, Jennie and Dianne are joined by one of their favorite living historians MJ Henion, to unravel a Civil War mystery that still haunts historians today.
Meet Brigadier General Richard B. Garnett, a Confederate officer whose story ends at Pickett’s Charge… or does it? Though he has a memorial marker in Virginia’s historic Hollywood Cemetery, no one knows for certain if his remains ever left the battlefield at Gettysburg.

From his early years before the war to his final moments leading men into that doomed charge, MJ brings Garnett’s Ordinary Extraordinary life, and death, into vivid focus.

Need an Ordinary Extraordinary Cemetery Podcast tee, hoodie or mug? Find all our taphophile-fun much here: https://oecemetery.etsy.com

Family Tales: A free printable, is now available! Gather 'round the table and dig into your roots! This interactive family history game is perfect for holidays, reunions, or just because. Ask, listen, and laugh your way through generations of stories and secrets. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1UT_R56qEwNTIxIBrTy8KFyVmGnFOe7g8/view?usp=sharing

Support the show