(This Footnote to History article was printed on page 1 in the December 14, 1949 edition of the Akron Beacon Journal and is reprinted word-for-word below.)

Bobby Gets Christmas Wish, Stone For His Mother’s Grave

MONTOURSVILLE. Pa. (AP) — Eleven-year-old Bobby Lovell is going to get his Christmas—wish a tombstone for his mother’s grave.

Bobby’s mother died in October 1918 and was buried in the Montoursville cemetery.

Several days ago, the youngster—who lives in a trailer camp with his father, an unemployed laborer on relief—decided to find his mother’s unmarked grave.

His search proved successful yesterday after he had enlisted the aid of Police Chief Stanley C. Zartman.

“Some day I’ll have enough money to buy a marker for my mother’s grave,” Bobby told Zartman.

The police- chief related the story to a newspaper and the J. E. Gibbons Co. offered to donate a tombstone, engrave it, and have it in place by Christmas

BOBBY examined the firm’s stock, passed by a number of ornate stones and selected a two-by-three-foot marker.

“I would like very much to have that one,” he said. “Now I can find mother’s grave and put flowers on it.”

Meanwhile, local merchants promised Bobby’s Christmas would not be without gifts, including a permanent movie pass. And Zartman said he was making arrangements to find Bobby a new home “under different environment.”