GRAVE “STOMPIN”

Written by Luz Leigh 17 September 2007

      We left my house at the stroke of 8:00 a.m. For me that was early, but for my co-hart it was almost mid-morning. Mary lives farther out in the country than I do and gets up much earlier. She walks her dog while it is cool and gets her daily exercise before many folks open their eyes to the world.

      Mary needed to confirm some death dates on a number of former students at the local high school. She prepares a memorabilia display each year for the high school reunion on those who have died since the preceding reunion. The cemeteries we would be visiting are in rural, isolated areas; thus, we always travel in pairs when we visit them. We are not ghoulish or anything like that; we are genealogists. Cemeteries are where one goes to gather information not found in other sources.

      At the first cemetery we visited, we were greeted by a cool breeze and shade over most of the area. Here we see the resting place of an early settler to this area of Texas; he had served in the War of 1812 before moving here. There was the grave of a young man who had been killed by a co-worker while in a heated argument at their worksite. I remember the incident. Both of the young men involved were well liked in the community.

      “Oh, there is Uncle George’s grave. Remember him? He was married to my Aunt Gloria at one time,” says my friend. Oh, yeah, I sort of remember him….he was husband number three or four, wasn’t he? Those were my thoughts; I voiced them not.

      We are able to locate one of the deceased student’s grave, gather the information and leave. The other student that I thought would have been buried there was not found.

      After driving about three miles down the road, we come to a Catholic cemetery, hoping to locate two more graves here. We split up; I take the newer section, which happened to be the section with no trees for shade. By now the sun was getting a littler warm, but I trudged on. My section revealed not a grave for which we were searching. Under the shade of the many cedar trees in her section of the cemetery, Mary had enjoyed her stroll but had found none of the friends for whom we were searching.

      So, back to her car we go and travel over to the adjoining county to another Catholic cemetery. This one is very old and very large, but is almost completed shaded by large cedar trees. Not sure what it was about those old Catholics who insisted on having cedar trees to shade their dead folks, but I am grateful to them. Our family cemetery has some oak, sweet gum, and magnolia trees, but no cedars. As you may have guessed, we are not Catholic.

      We were so blessed as we drove in to begin our search. Without even exiting her car, she spotted the grave we were looking for. We copied the information into our notebooks and smiled. “That is complete,” Mary said with a sigh.

      If anyone passing along the nearby highway had noticed, they might have wondered what these two grave stompers were doing, just sitting there in the parked car. Well, we were enjoying the quietness and serene atmosphere as we looked at a stack of photos she had taken on her recent trip to Alaska.

      Once back at my home, we reminisced while viewing a small portion of my collection of photos and other memorabilia I have amassed over the years. We laughed while looking at some; got teary-eyed while looking at others. But, thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

      All in all, it was a beneficial morning. Mary gathered so much information and I was grateful to be out of the house.

      If you haven’t done so in a while (if ever), take a quiet stroll through a local cemetery. Read the inscriptions on the headstones and try to imagine what that person’s life had been like, especially those who pioneered the area. Some are heroes with fancy headstones; many others are just plain everyday folks like you and me who were here to make a difference in our world.