‘Ceme-tourism’ comes to area

May 20, 2011

Post & Mail photo/Becky Hand — John Bry, executive director of the Noble County Convention and Visitors Bureau, spoke animatedly at the Genealogical Society of Whitley County annual meeting Thursday evening about what he calls “ceme-tourism” and his brainchild, the “Tombstone Trail.”

COLUMBIA CITY — It’s a club where everyone is related, if you dig back far enough.
Members and guests at the Genealogy Society annual meeting Thursday night at Eagle’s Nest in Columbia City joked about their family links, but the point was proven when Dr. Donald Gradeless, recited some research he had conducted about the guest speaker.
As it turns out, John Bry, executive director of the Noble County Convention and Visitors Bureau, has ancestry from Whitley County, by the name of Smith, of the local funeral home.
This was apropos for the evening, since Bry spoke on the event his organization initiated last fall, the “Tombstone Trail.”

To read the rest of this story, please order an e-subscription, found under the e-edition subscription link, or call The Post & Mail at 244-5153, ext. 207 and ask for a subscription.