These particularly fine monuments are very unusual: conscious imitations of the tombstones of a century or more before, but in a very 1930s style. The craftsman is too skillful to imitate the natural irregularity of our early stonecutters’ work; he has to resort to deliberate irregularities, such as occasional capital letters stuck in among the minuscules.
Edward Rynearson was principal of Fifth Avenue High School, Uptown. In 1921, he founded the National Honor Society, which he obviously regarded as his crowning achievement as an educator.