Farris Cemetery News
|
"We are closer to our forefathers when treading upon the ground where they lie buried." |
|
May, 2008 Bulletin |
|
Annual Gathering Day: June 7, 2008 A battalion of dedicated clean-up/fix-up patrons will begin streaming in to the Farris Cemetery at first light on Saturday, June 7, 2008. Lawn mowers, leaf blowers, clippers and hedgers will be revved up to tackle the Big Clean-up work before them. Not long after all this; friends and family members will begin to arrive to lend a hand with the ranking, tombstone cleaning and hand pruning. OTIS ROBINSON & DOYLE WALKER is expected to again preside over the burning brush pile. Meantime, lots of good visiting and reminiscing will be going on! Promptly at 11:30 work will stop, and the Annual Business Meeting will be called to order by Cemetery Board Chair, MAXIA FARRIS. After that meeting, all present will spread and enjoy the dinner-on-the-grounds feast of favorite family dishes and other treats. Come early to enjoy the visiting and to help with the clean up and the feasting. Delbert Robinson Scholarship In Conjunction with the Business Meeting referenced above, the annual awarding of the Delbert Robinson Scholarship will happen. The individual selected by the Cemetery Board Scholarship Committee will be announced and come forward to receive the certificate. Winners who have received this $300 award* in the past have been: 2003 – Lauren Grawley 2004 – Heather Noelle Barron 2005 – Dean Farris Johnson 2006 – Lacey Renee’ Richardson 2007 – Amanda Holt Kelley *For information on rules governing the application for this award, please see any Cemetery Board Member.
|
Your Board has been BUSY…Just come and SEE! ALL parties should be interested in checking on the latest work done on the new addition to our Cemetery. A 36’ concrete walkway is in place in the Jimmye Farris Kearse Meditation Garden! The floor of the pavilion is now paved! The wrought iron picket fence (now under construction) should be complete by June 7th!Again this year, an appreciative "Thank You" is in order for ROBERT BRUNER for his donated time and use of his tractor in spreading and leveling field dirt. Your Board is currently engaged in making plans for the landscaping of the arbor and the walkway. It is also considering an option for extending the walkway to West Fence line and making it possible for Cemetery Association Members to purchase "naming-rights" on mini-seating sites to be installed along that pathway. Stay tuned! Board Member Elections Each year three of the nine Members of the Cemetery Board will have served their 3-year-term and pending nomination, either run for re-election, or be replaced. On June 7, 2008, Sam Walker, Andy Walker and Otis Robinson will have completed their term of office. Nominations will be taken on this date and a vote taken at our Business Meeting to determine who will fill these offices through June, 2011. Other members of the Board who will continue to serve through the next year are: Max Farris, Winnie Sandel, Maurice Sims, David Robinson, Velma Bruce and Doyle Walker.
|
||
|
The Environment and Notes from Our Past In the 21st Century, "Go Green" is becoming a recognizable environmental slogan and we hear cheers and loud applause to the theme and most of the activities on that agenda. This emphasis is making all of us more aware of our surroundings and more appreciative of those areas where "Green practices" have prevailed over time. Look closely at our beloved Cemetery and you will find several examples of plants and trees that have offered both shade and beauty, as well as contributed to a healthier environment over the years.
|
Aunt Jenny Sims is believed to have been the person who, over 100 years ago, planted the pink crape myrtles just inside the North gate, and to the West of it. One of them shades the tombstones of Hezekiah and Matilda Farris, who were the original donors of a one-acre "graveyard site" back in 1842. Check out those OLD cedars at the crest of the hill, at the Western edge of the property. Are there any experts in our midst who might calculate the age of these majestic shade trees? And, there is a single Formosa azalea planted at the gravesite for Max & Rochelle’s infant, Shelly Lyn, that has been thriving there since 1960.
|
|
FARRIS CEMETERY May, 2006 Bulletin
|
||
|
Mark your Calendars for Work Day – June 3rd Our Annual Work Day this year will once again be on the first Saturday in June , the 3rd. Push mowers, pitch forks, rakes, wheel barrows and trimmers are work equipment pieces that are always needed. Old-timers will be there early and ready to lend a hand to mowing, edging, raking, trimming and/or helping to fill in sunken gravesites. Others who may be physically impaired will be there for their special contribution as a Community Supporter, as well as for the Business Meeting and for – perhaps – the loan of a push mower, a trimmer, or a wheel barrow to be used by someone who is more physically able. All such equipment pieces are needed and useful! Whatever the age, there will be a job for everyone before we stop - around 11:30 - for the Annual Business Meeting. This will be followed, by dinner-on-the-grounds as favorite family dishes are spread on the long picnic tables. Urgent: Member Help Needed In an on-going effort to keep abreast of the increasing number of burials, Board Chair, Max Farris, has asked that anyone who knows of a burial in the Cemetery in the past few years to please forward that information to him, or to Velma Bruce, at the addresses given below. (We think we have everyone but may have missed a name.)
|
Information needed: Name of the deceased, Date of birth and Date of death and family burial plot used, or approximate location of the grave site. Max Farris can be reached at P. O. Box 224, Huntsville, TX 77342, or via phone at 936-295-4738 . Velma Bruce can be reached at vlbruce@totalzone.com, or via phone at 936-295-5085. THANKS for your help! General Scholarship Information April 15, 2006 was the deadline for making application for the $300 Delbert Robinson Scholarship. This scholarship is to be applied toward tuition at Sam Houston State University for the next academic year. Applicant must have an earned GPA of 2.0 or higher, be enrolled, or planning to enroll at Sam Houston State University, and have been born in the West Sandy Community, or have blood tied to someone living there. Past recipients have been: Lauren Grawley – 2003-2004. Heather Noelle Barron – 2004-2005, Dean Farris Johnson – 2005-2006. There were no applicants for the coming year but there must surely be a deserving student who meets the requirements spelled out above and who could use this tuition money. Therefore, the Board has extended the application deadline until May 31, 2006 and asked that interested candidates please contact a Cemetery Board Member as soon as possible.
|
|
|
|
||
|
Board Member Elections One item of business at our Meeting each year is the election of three members to the Board of Directors. The nine people on the Board each serve a 3-year term, term of office, meaning that each June three of the group will either be replaced or re-elected. On June 1st, 2006 Velma Bruce (Treasurer), Doyle Walker, and David Robinson will have finished their elected term of office. Nominations will be taken at the Meeting on June 3, 2006 and a vote taken then to determine who will fill the vacancies through June,2009. Other members of this Board who will continue to serve through the next year are Maxia Farris, Winnie Sandel, Maurice Sims, Sam Walker, Andy Walker and Otis Robinson.
|
Gifted Land Improvements Several important steps have been taken with regard to converting the wooded 2.4 acre property donated by Georgie Kearse Rawson to the Farris Cemetery Association in June,2004. · The pine timber was sold and · The brush piled for burning · A back hoe has uprooted the stumps · A bull dozier has leveled the site · The Brush Burners have been able to remove about 1/2 the piles to date · A schematic drawing of the plot, including plans for the Memorial Garden and its placement of the access road, and the tentative grave sites has been completed. As the development of this area continues, Cemetery Association Members will be given the opportunity to participate in making a honorarium to a friend, family member, or other loved one. We hope to have more concrete details within the next year. For “before” and “after” pictures of this site, please see the poster of same at our Work Day Gathering.
|
|
|
|
||
