Bruce Posten wrote a story for the Reading Eagle. This report was written by Society board member Jack De Bellis:

In Plowville Cemetery, where generations of John Updike’s relatives rest, John Updike’s children, Liz, David, Michael and Miranda gathered to show publicly their love for their father. The ceremony took the form of the placing of a headstone carved by Michael with affection and wit on Pennsylvania slate. The stone featured John Updike’s signature in its many representations, including “Johnny” as he was known by his parents. Linda and Wesley Updike rested only inches from the headstone. Atop the monument Michael had carved an angel in the New England style, a face with wings. He cleverly carved his father’s smiling face showing that though he feared death all his life, he had a faith which would enable him to ascend, happily, to heaven. On the reverse of the stone Michael had cut both stanzas from Updike’s poem “Telephone Poles”. There was little doubt he still communicated with those assembled.

The gathering included the spouses of Miranda and David, many of their children, and one, Trevor, who bears his grandfather’s features to a remarkable degree. John Updike’s blood flowed in many veins. Also honoring John were his former classmates and lifelong friends Jackie Hirneisen Kendall and Joan Venne Youngerman; David Silcox, who had kept Updike abreast of Shillington news; Jack De Bellis, Alvernia University’s John Updike Scholar in Residence; and Patricia De Bellis.

Michael arranged the gathering into a half-circle by the headstone and invited readers to come forward. First, the grandchildren read touchingly humorous poems from “A Child’s Calendar.” Then De Bellis read a poem in which John wrestled with a close-call at sea, “Bath After Sailing”; Patricia read epigrams ranging from comic to tragic; Jackie read love poems written to her by the ten-year-old Updike (who knew they were mushy); and Youngerman read and commented on a story, “Friends from Philadelphia,” in which she had played a part. This phase of the ceremony ended with Liz, David, Michael and Miranda reading excerpts from “Plow Cemetery,” joining in unison on the last heart-breaking line, “My life in time will seal shut like a scar.”

Each reading was received with warm, subdued applause. The ceremony then became somber as Miranda opened a small box containing some of Updike’s ashes and invited everyone to take a “pinch.” Most deposited them in a hole dug next to the headstone and adjacent to Linda Updike’s vault. A flower plant was placed on top of the ashes.

The moving event prompted poetic recollections. Emily Dickinson’s words came to mind, “the sweeping up the heart/ and putting love away/ We shall not need to use again/ Until the judgment day.” As we departed slowly, very slowly, the spire of Plow Church loomed in the darkening sky. Lightning flashed across Shillington. No need to wonder why.

Jack De Bellis, July 8, 2011