b. Blocher Memorial, Section 11, is unquestionably the most lavish tribute to Victorian taste in Forest Lawn. Young Nelson Blocher (rhymes with poker), legend has it, fell in love with a family maid, and his parents, aghast at the thought of a marriage beneath their son’s station, sent him off to cool his ardor in Italy, where, unfortunately, he became ill and returned home to die. With profound feelings of responsibility for this tragedy, the parents, John and Elizabeth Blocher, conceived an elaborate memorial incorporating their own grieving figures beside their son’s dead body with a scantily clothed, voluptuous angel overhead. The legend maintains that the maid herself posed for the angel sculpture. John Blocher, an industrialist with considerable artistic talents, actually designed the memorial. The marble figures, which took three years to carve, were sculpted from 150 tons of rare Italian Carrara marble by the Swiss-born Italian artist, Frank Torrey. Immense granite stones enclose the sentimental tableau. The upper bell-shaped roof stone, which sits on top of another circular stone, alone weights 60 tons. The roof rests on giant granite pilasters separated by glass encased doors. The stone chaise lounge on which Nelson lies swings aside to permit access to the burial vaults below. The central monument is surrounded by oversize flower urns and granite seats inscribed with the family names and dates. The memorial was unveiled in 1888. (#8 on Field Guide map)

d. Fillmore, President Millard (1800 – 1874), Section F, was the thirteenth president of the United States. He was elected vice-president in 1848 and succeeded to the presidency upon the death of Zachary Taylor, serving from 1850 to 1853. A polished red granite obelisk marks his family lot, which is surrounded by an iron fence. The next obelisk to the east of Fillmore commemorates Nathan Hall, and the third one, Solomon Haven. The three were business partners and friends who, in death, remain side by side in the exact order of their law firm’s name: Fillmore, Hall and Haven. It was President Fillmore who sent Commodore M. C. Perry to open trade relations with Japan and get better treatment for American fishermen. Opening trade with Japan was something that almost every European nation had tried to do, but only Fillmore got it done. The event became the inspiration for Stephen Sondheim’s Broadway musical, Pacific Overtures. (#76 on Field Guide map)