In Chippiannock Cemetery in Rock Island there is a graveside statue of a dog. He is watching over the graves of two children, Josie and Eddie Dimick. They both died of diphtheria on October 22, 1878. The story is that the family’s Newfoundland, named Rex, followed the children’s parents when they visited the grave. It did not take long before Rex was spending every day traveling to the gravesite from sunrise to sunset. When Rex died, the family commissioned the statue and placed it in its position watching over the children’s grave.
