Bringing the women of Waco's past to life

By Wendy Gragg

If you could be any dead Wacoan for a day, who would it be?

That's the question I'm currently faced with. Well, a variation of it, actually. If I could be any dead Wacoan buried at Oakwood Cemetery for a day, who would it be?

I was asked to be one of the presenters at the Oakwood Cemetery Walking Tales this year, from 10 a.m. to noon Oct. 15. I don't have to actually portray a person, but I feel like I'd be cheating myself out of a lot of fun if I didn't do it in first person.

So back to the question at hand, "which dead person ..."

I was sent a list of eligible dead folk but only a few are women and most of them are taken by other presenters. This got me thinking, I bet there's a treasure trove of fairly awesome Waco females resting in Oakwood who most of us don't know about.

Local author and historian Patricia Ward Wallace recently spoke at the Red Men Museum about some of the women in Waco's history. She also has penned a book on the topic, "A Spirit So Rare," one of her earlier books.

Wallace spoke of Christian McLennan, wife to famed Neil McLennan, who "walked shoulder to shoulder with her husband into this land." Yet, her tombstone describes her as Mrs. Neil McLennan, Wallace said.

She told the story of Catherine Fulkerson Ross, a Southern belle who married and traveled with  Shapley Prince Ross. Wallace, an entertaining speaker, didn't spare the details, describing the one treasure Catherine took into the frontier with her —  a lavender silk dress. I love that image!

Wallace also talked about the bawds — the women who worked in and ran Waco's red light district — and, later, the women who were champions for change, including Kate Rotan. (This is where I admit that I'd really like to tell the story of famous Waco madam Mollie Adams during the cemetery walk)

I'd like to get my hands on a copy of "A Spirit So Rare" and take a deeper look at the history of Waco women, but for now I need to hop to it and choose an Oakwood Cemetery resident to portray.

I'm just glad to know that if I look a little deeper, it seems, there are plenty of women resting in that lovely spot whose story I would consider it an honor to tell.

Come out to Oakwood on Oct. 15. The stories should be good, but besides that, it's an excuse to wander the gorgeous cemetery in my opinion, one of the loveliest spots in town.
 

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