Family history moments: A helpful stranger
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My wife Joanie was diligent in looking for her ancestors on the Akley and Olmsted lines when death overtook her on May 12, 2003.
It was always Joan's desire to make a trip back east to the state of New York to visit the cemetery in Hempstead where some of the Akley family were buried and also to visit the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Tarrytown where her great-grandfathers were buried in the Olmsted vault.
A year after her death, I married Patricia D. Malan, and we submitted our papers for an 18-month mission. We were assigned to the New York New York South Mission.
One of our responsibilities was to work in a family history center for two days a week. I soon discovered Hempstead was just eight miles away and that some of the Akleys were buried there. We felt our Father in heaven had placed us right where we needed to be. I am still submitting Akley names found in this cemetery for temple work.
Our next venture was going to Tarrytown to find the Olmsted vault. We did find one burial site but, before leaving, we bowed our heads in prayer for guidance because we did not find any information in cemetery records on the Olmsted vault.
As we were leaving the cemetery, we stopped to look at an old cannon and a statue . Suddenly, a red van pulled up and stopped behind us. A man with white hair and a long beard introduced himself and told us he lived in the old church down off the hill.
I asked about the vault. His response was, "Now, let me see; it seems like I remember something about a vault." He took a map from the back of his van and studied it.
"Mr. Frost," he said, "see where my finger is. That is the location of the Olmsted Vault. It is in the old church burial grounds right under this hill we are standing on.
I asked Mr. Lent what made him come here at this specific time, and his reply was, "Because I was told to do so." He then gave us directions to the vault.
We returned to the office to ask for the records from the Old Church Cemetery and found the names we were seeking. — Jerry Austin Frost, Snowflake 3rd Ward, Snowflake Arizona Stake.
