Anyone driving along I-240, as it passes north and south through the heart of the city, can hardly miss the monuments of Forest Hill Cemetery, which stretches along the eastern edge of the expressway. Take your eyes off the traffic long enough (if you dare), and you'll see one of the most impressive memorials in the entire cemetery, dedicated to the Trimble family.
As you can see, it's a grand thing indeed. A life-size angel leans against an imposing granite sarcophagus, which is sheltered by a massive stone canopy. Across that canopy is carved TRIMBLE, and the tomb itself bears this simple inscription:
Frank Trimble, Dec. 29, 1840 - Oct. 12, 1915
Lilly Shelton, his wife, Dec. 10, 1952 - Dec. 8, 1899.
According to the 1910 edition of Who's Who in Tennessee, Frank Trimble was born in Hazel Green, Kentucky, in 1840 and "was educated in the schools of Kentucky." For reasons unknown (to me, I mean) he moved to Illinois at the age of 22, then ventured to Memphis during the Civil War, where he became a merchant. After the war, he started a real estate firm called, rather logically, Frank Trimble & Company, dealing in "farmlands, etc."
The Who's Who also mentioned that he was a Royal Arch Mason, a member of the Knights of Pythias, and a member of the Methodist Church. All that, and yet no mention whatsoever of "Lilly Shelton, his wife." Hmmm.
Old city directories reveal that Trimble & Company was located downtown on Madison, while the Trimbles themselves resided at 23 S. Diana. That house was torn down years ago, but Trimble Place — the narrow street that runs for two blocks behind Overton Square — remains today, as yet another monument to Frank and Lilly.
I should mention that the Trimbles didn't originally plan for their elaborate monument to face the expressway, tucked away in the back of the cemetery. Back in the early 1900s, when Forest Hill Cemetery first opened, the imposing entrance, with a fine stone chapel near the gate, was on the western side of the cemetery. All of that changed when the city pushed I-240 through in the 1960s and 1970s, so the main entrance was relocated to the east (on South Bellevue) and some of the oldest monument can now be found "at the back."
I should also mention that time and the elements have not been kind to the angel shown here (or is it supposed to be a depiction of Lilly Trimble?). Many of the features of her face have worn almost entirely away. It's still quite lovely from a distance, however.
