HOPE, Idaho — A Chinese-American family, now living in California, shares a special connection with an historic cemetery in the small community of Hope, Idaho. Buried there is May Den, a Chinese woman who followed her husband to work on railroads in the modern-day Hope area in the early 20th century.
May Den died in 1925 when she was around just 35 years old. But close to a century later, her relatives continue to send money to local cemetery volunteers in order to make sure her grave is maintained.
"I think it's remarkable,” said Susan Howard of Hope. Howard serves with the Friends of Hope Cemetery group and helps maintain the cemetery along with other projects. Howard, who says she’s done her own research on May Den, is also somewhat of a history enthusiast too.
Howard says that before Den died, she gave birth to four children. Den’s husband, a Chinese entrepreneur, would remain in Hope after her death but sent their children back to family in China. Only a handful of information is known about Den, but the Chinese characters on her gravestone in Hope provide some clues. "It has information about who she was born, who her husband was,” Howard says.
Since the Friends of Hope Cemetery group was founded in the early 1990s, Howard says that descendants of May Den have regularly sent the group money, asking that the grave be maintain and flowers be placed nearby.
"I'm just amazed that they honored her all these years,” Howard said, noting that her living relatives, now in California, likely never met her. "I think that, even though they probably didn't know a lot about her, they felt some kind of love, or some kind of reverence."
Two years ago, Den’s daughter and grandson visited her grave in Hope. Howard said that the daughter, who was 96 at the time, came to visit May Den “one last time.” "I think she was really moved to see her mother's grave again,” Howard said.
While other Chinese railroad workers are buried in and around Hope, Howard says that May Den is the only one that not only has a unique tombstone, but also has family members who continually pay homage.