“Weird,” “creepy,” or “strange” are just a few of the words that buzzed around our school about Joe Jaramillo’s gravestone in the last few weeks. I know that it’s creepy to have the gravestone in front of our school, but the history behind it is much more important than caring about how it looks. 

As time passed, our community has forgotten about or never knew about the mine explosion that happened near the location of our school back in 1936.

Recently, Monarch worked with many local groups and the Jaramillo family to move the gravestone of Joe C. Jaramillo from underneath U.S. Highway 36 to our school, so it can be seen in the public eye. 

And Joe Jaramillo was one of the miners to die during the explosion but his body can never be found. 

Joe C. Jaramillo deserves to be remembered.

You might think it’s weird, but it was the deaths and devastations that we can’t ignore or let it sink into oblivion. 

As a student of Monarch, I believe people should know about their school’s history.

To be honest, I would never have known about the mine explosion and people who lost their lives if the graves were not moved to our school. So, I believe it’s a way to commemorate and educate the students about the history of our school. 

I agree that it’s questionable to have a gravestone at a place like school. However, if you think about it, are the looks of it more important than the commemoration of the history of our community, and people who dedicated their lives for our community? I don’t think so.