I've recently created FindAGrave.com memorials for all the decedents with marked graves who are interred in Our Lady of Lourdes Roman Catholic Cemetery in Blades, Sussex Co., DE. (That cemetery is associated with Our Lady of Lourdes RC Church on Stein Highway in Seaford, DE.) The cemetery opened in 1950 and today has approximately 350 occupied graves.

I was able to obtain obituaries for most of the 1999-2008 decedents, so have written, or soon will, biographies to add to those individuals' FindAGrave.com memorials. (That said, a small number of decedents from that era, I either was unable to find anything for, or just a death notice devoid of any significant personal and family information.) More than one-quarter of the cemetery's interments took place during that period.

The memorials I've created for the 1950-1998 decedents in most cases only reflect the details appearing on their tombstones and/or military markers, so are very stark. Primarily with that crowd, I'm seeking any personal and family "obituary" type biographical details that anyone who knew some of the individuals may be able to add. Among Ancestry/RootsWeb subscribers to this Sussex Co. message board, there must be at least some family members or friends of some of the people from that period who are buried in Our Lady of Lourdes Cemetery. If so, and if you can either send me scans or transcriptions of the person's obituary, or, otherwise, useful and relevant memorial details, I'll be happy to add any appropriate details to their FindAGrave.com memorials.

Please check out that cemetery on FindAGrave. In your search engine, type in "FindAGrave.com", then click on the Cemetery Search link, type in "Our Lady of Lourdes Cemetery," select Delaware, and it'll come up readily. The types of details I'd like to be able to add for decedents is full names, full birth and death dates (many tombstones only show years), maiden names of women, names of parents, siblings, and/or children, birth location, and previous places any transplants to the Seaford-Blades-Laurel, etc. area lived, and details about types of work these people did, long-time places of employment, and other useful solid personal notes. In other words, types of details you'd typically find in an obituary.

It should be noted that probably the vast majority of people interred in Our Lady of Lourdes Cemetery were either personally from somewhere other than this area, or their parents were, as so many decedents were from families that came to the area to work for the DuPont Co. that opened during the late 1930s. Many have surnames that are not native (pre-20th Century) to the Western Sussex Co. area.

Until within the past ten years, Our Lady of Lourdes Cemetery in Blades was the only Catholic cemetery in Sussex Co. Therefore, Catholics covering a large geographic area (some who were not actually members of the parish) were buried in that cemetery. Not everyone buried in the cemetery was Catholic, though the vast majority were. Others were spouses or otherwise close family members (or perhaps some close friends) of Catholics with family plots there.

If any useful details you're able to provide about anyone, feel free to e-mail me directly at Genplant29@aol.com. Please put "Our Lady of Lourdes Cem. FindAGrave project" in the Subject line of your e-mail, so I'll know it's not spam. Thanks.

Hoping to hear from some of you soon!

Dave Wilson
Genplant29@aol.com

PS: If you're a close family member of any of the decedents, please don't hesitate to add one or more nice pictures of them to their memorials!