Gerald Maitlen
Gerald Maitlen was born December 6th, 1906 and died December 21st, 1906. He was 15 days old.
The zinc headstone is moderately ornate and is about 36" tall. A dove rests on top of the headstone. There seems to be some separation between the upright portion and the base of the headstone. All the inscriptions are still very legible and overall a good representation of a zinc headstones of its time.
It is inscribed:
Gerald Maitlen
Born Dec. 8, 1906
Died Dec. 21, 1906
Age 15 days
Budded on Earth, to
Bloom in Heaven
Also on the backside of the headstone is the inscription:
Son of M. & T. Maitlen
The surname, Maitlen is at the lower edge of the headstone.
The Lakeview Cemetery is a community cemetery with approximately 2,200 interments and located in Bonner County. It was established in 1903. There are 20 interments that were moved from the old Humbird Cemetery in 1893.
This is a most interesting cemetery that has several zinc headstones, large old headstones and is beautifully maintained.
A Place of Remembering
When the little village, that was to be Sandpoint, people gathered along the Northern Pacific Railroad tracks and needed a place in which to bury their dead.
The land on the West side of the creek was a remote forest and a plot more accessible was needed. A Mr. Ferguson donated to the Town of Sandpoint a strip of land to be used for burial purposes.
In 1893 the J.D. Nesbitts owned the Humbird Lumber Co. and once established more land was needed. The Humbird Co. purchased the ground on which the cemetery was located. The Humbird Company had its manager, A.E. Rickard, purchase a five-acre plot of land for the purpose of moving the bodies of those that had been buried in the old cemetery.
Today, these five acres are known as the old part of Lakeview Cemetery. In 1929 another four acres was purchased in order to expand the cemetery.
To walk through the quiet and serene area is like experiencing a page from the history of a town and its people. The bodies of men and women who served in the armed forces of our country are buried at Lakeview. As one stands and gazes at the beautiful trees and the lake one experiences a sense of quietude as if some unheard voice is saying to those sleeping there, "Take your rest, take your rest."
Someone once said that you could tell the character of a town by the way they maintain their places of burial. From the beginning people stepped up and took a responsible role in maintaining Lakeview Cemetery.
In 1903, A.E. Rickard, H.E. Hunt, P.H. Moran, and Charlie Foss filed articles of incorporation. This group of men became the first managers of the new Lakeview Cemetery.
(This article was edited for content.)
Source: A Place of Remembering by Bob Gunter