It’s not a wild party that will wake the dead of Oakwood Cemetery on Oct. 16, but a group of mild-mannered storytellers and local history buffs who invite the public to traipse among the tombstones.

Presented by the Heart of Texas Storytelling Guild, “Walking Tales: Bringing Historic Stories To Life,” takes place from 10 a.m. to noon Oct. 16 at Oakwood Cemetery, 2124 S. Fifth St.

The free, family-friendly event will feature a plethora of costumed characters stationed throughout the graveyard and sharing the stories of their lives and times in old Waco.

Waco librarian Vivian Rutherford is founder of the Heart of Texas Storytelling Guild, which will hold its second “Walking Tales: Bringing Historic Stories to Life” on Oct. 16 at Oakwood Cemetery, 2124 S. Fifth St. Rutherford will don frontier housewife garb to tell the stories of Rose, a 2-year-old child who was the first person buried at the cemetery, and Lawrence Sullivan “Sul” Ross (1838-98), Texas Ranger and Indian fighter, state senator, governor of Texas and president of Texas A&M University.
Terri Jo Ryan/Waco Tribune-Herald

Members and friends of the guild, founded more than three years ago to promote the preservation of the oral tradition in Central Texas, conducted their first Walking Tales last year to an enthusiastic crowd.

Vivian Rutherford, Waco librarian and founder of the HOT Guild, said the initial group of performers had so much fun, they had to come back for more.

Indeed, besides returning tellers Rutherford, Beulah Barksdale, Julia Bugh, Leslie Collier, Brad Turner and Marian Fleischmann, the crew will be joined by newcomers Lu Billings, William Covington, Adele Williams and Phylis Huckabay.

Rutherford, for example, will don frontier housewife garb to tell the story of Rose, the 2-year-old child who was the first person buried there. The abbreviated lives of so many children speak to the harsh conditions of the era, she said.

She also will share the tale of Lawrence Sullivan “Sul” Ross (1838-98), Texas Ranger and Indian fighter, state senator, governor of Texas and president of Texas A&M University.

Meanwhile, Huckabay will tell the improbable tale of Telephus Telemachus Louis Augustus Albertus Johnson (1822-75), one of Waco’s wealthiest businessmen. He was rumored to have been buried seated at a poker table with a whiskey bottle in one hand and a six-shooter in the other.

Williams will laud Abner V. McCall (1915-95), the orphan who worked his way through Baylor University, ultimately graduating with a law degree. After being a G-man during World War II, Judge McCall served on the Texas Supreme Court and as dean of the law school. He was Baylor’s president from 1961-81.

Neil McLennan (1787-1867), the Scottish native who became the first white settler of the county, will be presented by Covington.

Fleischmann returns to feature the life and literature of Emily Dorothy Scarborough (1878-1935), the Waco-born novelist whose works were made into silent movies.

Bugh will share the life of Lavonia Jenkins Barnes (1907-2000), remembered as an artist and historic preservationist.

Billings will salute Nell Pape (1888-1981), the globe-trotting community booster and historic preservationist. Pape played a leading role in numerous cultural enterprises from garden clubs and the Waco Symphony Orchestra to Hillcrest hospital and Cameron Park.

William Cowper Brann (1855–98), the sarcastic, caustic and bombastic journalist sometimes known as the Prairie Voltaire, will be recalled by Turner, McLennan Community College professor of history and local author.

Marian Fleischmann, a former Waco resident now residing in Denton, will talk about Emily Dorothy Scarborough (1878-1935), the Waco-born novelist whose works were made into silent movies.
Terri Jo Ryan/Waco Tribune-Herald

Barksdale will share the story of William Cameron (1834-99), the Scottish-born timber baron who made a fortune after moving to Waco. A century ago, his heirs gave 100 wooded acres along the Brazos and Bosque Rivers to the city for a park named in his honor.

Rutherford said people can volunteer to present stories of the renowned, legendary and sometimes infamous people laid to rest at Oakwood, which had been the site of a racetrack before its founding in 1878.

She had numerous characters who have not been matched with a storyteller. Included are:

*  Dr. Hallie Earle (1880-1964) — The first licensed female physician in Waco and McLennan County.

*  Col. George Bruce Gerald (1836-1914) — Confederate “fire-eater,” newspaper editor, a county judge, state senator and local postmaster.

*  Fay and Bird Hoffman (1880s-1970s) — Teachers of dance who taught movement and physical fitness in Waco, performing as The Hoffmannettes.

*  Wade B. Morrison (1852-1924) — Owner of Morrison’s Old Corner Drug Store, where the proprietor named his pharmacist’s new fizzywater in honor of his mentor, Dr. Charles T. Pepper.

“Some of these stories are so good, somebody needs to tell them so they won’t blow away and be forgotten,” Rutherford said.

The guild also is preparing for its fourth annual Tellabration, a program to showcase the storytellers’ art, conducted around the country each November.

For more information on the HOT Guild, contact Rutherford at 254-717-1763, or at vivian.rutherford @thestorylady.org.

tjryan@wacotrib.com

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