A final act of tribute to the dead is to have their name remembered. In visiting older cemeteries we can admire the intricate workmanship of stone cutters who diligently spent time carving out the name of the deceased often adding intricate designs, fraternal symbols, and more. Today cemeteries prefer a simple granite marker in the ground to make mowing the lawn around the graves easier, but it is in the older cemeteries such as Sunnyside and the Municipal Cemetery that we can see the artistry of the grave stone cutter. You may never have heard his name, but you can definitely see his work, when you visit Sunnyside and the Municipal Cemetery. Louis William Bendinger spent thirty years carving granite memorials for these and other cemeteries. …show more content…
That honor goes to Daniel C. Kimball who in 1911 had the first classified ad for “monument works” in city directories. He advertised himself as “D. C. Kimball, the Tombstone Man,” who used Scotch, Norway, Swedish, Denmark and Barre, Vermont marble at his shop at 346 American. The following year Kimball decided he needed a name for his business and decided on Long Beach Monumental Works. Business was good and he expanded his operations, moving to 1020 E. Willow in 1916, but he soon had competition from Frank Stewart, who along with Stewart’s Scottish partner Donald A. Blake, established a business, Stewart-Blake, at the southwest corner of California and Willow, just next to the two local cemeteries. Blake pulled out of the business the following year, and it was Frank M. Stewart who took over the company which he began to call Sunny Side Monument …show more content…
Kimball (3/7/1845-2/11/1917, buried Sunnyside) died in 1917 and his widow and employees kept the business alive. By 1923 they decided to call it quits. In 1928, Western Marble & Granite did the same. M & B Granite Works now had all the local stone carving and monument business to themselves. But the Depression of the 1930s hit and in 1933 Bendinger was on his own, without his longtime partner. Lewis P. Malin (1879-2/28/1933, buried Sunnyside) died. The death came as a shock, the Chester (PA.) Times reported, for Malin had been in fine health. His wife Julia Brown Malin (1873-7/13/1933), also buried at Sunnyside, passed away soon after. Louis Bendinger continued the business, now simply called “Bendinger, L.W.” at 2686 Atlantic Avenue until his death in 1950. After his death “Monumental Work” was no longer an advertising classification in city directories, Bendinger’s business had been the last. Bendinger had taught his son Leonard how to carve stone, but Leonard wasn’t interested in making his living that way; however Leonard (4/23/1907-4/21/1991, buried All Souls, Long Beach) did remember the skills his father taught him. As a final tribute to his father he carved his father’s tombstone, intricately working to include roses, an eternal symbol of love. Louis William Bendinger (2/9/1878-4/29/1950) is buried at Sunnyside next to his wife Margaret Leonard Bendinger (9/25/1880-7/14/1970) in SE Magnolia Section 60. The beautiful headstone alone is worth a