An estimated 200 people wandered from ghost to storytelling ghost Saturday morning in Oakwood Cemetery, where Central Texans have found their final rest since deep in the 19th century.

The “ghosts” in the second annual “Walking Tales” were members of the Heart of Texas Storytelling Guild who donned period costumes to represent the people whose graves they stood beside.

Thirteen storytellers each selected one of the personalities interred at the cemetery since its opening in 1878, when the city’s original burial ground, the First Street Cemetery, filled up.

High school social studies teacher Bill Covington of Cedar Park “stands guard” near the headstone and historical marker of Neil McLennan. He was telling the story of the Scottish native who came to Texas in 1834 and took a leading role in settling the area eventually named for him.
Rod Aydelotte/Waco Tribune-Herald

In recent years, many graves in the earlier cemetery have been moved to Oakwood to make way for Interstate 35 and the Texas Rangers Museum.

Among them is the new grave of Neil McLennan, born in Scotland in 1787 to become one of the most dynamic pioneers of the county that would bear his name after his death in 1867. A 1936 Texas Centennial historical marker stands beside his monument deep in the 157-acre field that contained more than 34,500 graves by 2008.

High school social studies teacher Bill Covington wore 18th century garb to tell his story.

The oldest grave in the cemetery commemorates one of the shortest lives, attested to the audience by guild president and Waco librarian Vivian Rutherford. “Rose,” thought to be the 2-year-old daughter of Col. Robert Blanks Parrott and Alice Downs Parrott, died the year the cemetery opened. Their graves are beside hers.

“We have no idea how she died,” Rutherford said. “Many children died in that age from diseases that are easily treatable now. But we know the cemetery’s founders nearly named it ‘Rosewood’ in her memory.”

Rutherford told about the funeral customs of the time.

“They would have a wake where someone was with the body for several days and nights to watch for movement in case the supposedly deceased person was in a coma. We know of a life saved one time when a man’s finger moved,” she said.

Sul Ross’s story

Charles Oliver told the story of Lawrence Sullivan “Sul” Ross, one of three Texas governors in the cemetery.

Ross, born in 1838, started earning his stripes in life when he encountered a band of Native Americans on his family’s homestead. He thought their gestures indicated they were hungry, and he started leading them to his home.

On the way, they pricked his back with spears, and his family thought that his stoic silence on the walk proved his family’s mettle to the natives and saved their lives.

Enlisting in the Confederate Army as a private, he became a major in a matter of weeks. After the war, he served in both houses of the Legislature before becoming governor.

After surviving spears, the guns of war and the ferocity of Texas politics, he finally fell prey in 1898 to the earth’s tiniest creatures.

“They didn’t have foolproof canning processes in those days,” Oliver said, “and he had some food from a can with a slight flaw that had allowed botulism to enter and grow. He fell ill, then got better for a couple of weeks and finally got sick again and succumbed.”

Mandy Rhymes, 9, of Belton, reaches for a period doll to show visitors at the headstone of 2-year-old “Rose,” who occupies the first grave consecrated in Oakwood Cemetery in 1878.
Rod Aydelotte/Waco Tribune-Herald

Hearing about history

Saturday’s events drew many people with deep roots in the area and a significant number of young adults.

“We just love hearing about history and hearing the stories about this area,” said Cecil Singletary, whose relatives know many people buried in Oakwood.

Singletary and his wife, Vivian, spent much of their life away from the area but returned here to retire.

Lampasas native Jane Williamson, attending with friends, is also a Baylor graduate who lived elsewhere for many years before returning to Waco in 1976.

“I really enjoy genealogy,” she said. “I just love historical stories about people, and I love seeing the old costumes,” she said.

“We were so pleased that so many people came this year,” Rutherford said. “It’s really grown since last year, and we hope it keeps on growing.”

dbolding@wacotrib.com

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