Sheaf of wheat

Wheat is cut when fully ripe, and Victorians applied that to old people who had lived the full span of years the Bible promises. A sheaf, sometimes with a sickle, is common on stones of people of mature age.

A Massachusetts preservation survey reads it as a sign of a full life, a sentiment that was not tied to any church. Wheat can also carry Christian meanings such as resurrection, redemption or the bread of communion, so read it with the rest of the stone.