Headstone of John Updike in Mohnton, Pennsylvania

Nestled in a churchyard in the small Pennsylvanian town of Mohnton, a peculiar gravestone stands out among the sturdy and square monuments of modern times. The black slate stone is an uncanny homage to the early grave markers of Puritan New England. It even includes a death's head motif, but with a twist. Instead of a gaunt, ghastly skull with wings, it features the wide, smiling face of the interred: author John Hoyer Updike.

John Updike was born and raised in Pennsylvania. His studies took him to England for a time, and he settled in Ipswich, Massachusetts as an adult. He was a novelist, poet, and critic. His poems were published in The New Yorker.

His most recognized fiction includes the books Rabbit, Run, Rabbit is Rich, and Rabbit at Rest. He is also the author of The Witches of Eastwick. The novel was adapted into a 1987 film starring Cher, Michelle Pfeiffer, Susan Sarandon, and Jack Nicholson. Certain parts were actually filmed in Ipswich.

Updike is one of four authors to win two Pulitzer Prizes for the fiction category. His unique headstone was carved by his son, Michael. In an interview with Northshore Magazine, he remarks on his father’s fear of death, which prompted him to capture his grin indefinitely. John’s different monikers fill the empty space in an easygoing, curling script.

Michael even inscribed one of John’s early poems on the backside. It reads: Why the Telephone Wires Dip and the Poles Are Cracked and Crooked The old men say young men in gray hung this thread across our plains acres and acres ago But we, the enlightened, know in point of fact it’s what remains of the flight of a marvellous crow no one saw: each pole, a caw.

The headstone is not only a touching tribute to a father and author, but to a man’s undying love of New England and its iconography.