Author: Greenleaf Admin

Greenleaf Cemetery welcomed new life to their grounds recently in the form of beautiful Painted Lady butterflies. About 125 people attended, including my own mother.

Pilar Roy and Steve Puckett released the butterflies, and then had to convince them to come out into the big world. Tim and Jeanie Fulfer’s music added to the festivities.

We also had the pleasure of meeting a number of people who are members of our new Facebook group, Historic Greenleaf Cemetery…A New Day. It’s always nice to put a face to a name. We were so happy to meet you!  -Freda

Most of this story is from a 1937 issue of The Austin American…

Jefferson Dewitt England was a 41-year-old farmer. He and his 38-year-old wife, Mattie, lived on their farm, about ten miles northeast of Brownwood.

On June 3, 1937, Dewitt was found in his vegetable garden, shot in the head, with his .22 caliber rifle in his lap. The dead body of his wife was found by his side.

They had separated the month before, and had been living separately with family members in Brownwood. They returned to their farm that fateful day to divide their property. I sense things didn’t go well.

Mattie was buried at Greenleaf Cemetery, but with her parents, not her husband.

Mattie had twins in 1936. The son apparently died at birth or as an infant, but they left a ten month old daughter.  -Freda

Here’s an interesting story I heard from Shane Agan, Grounds Supervisor at Greenleaf Cemetery.

While the guys were working in the area where Patrick O’Shea’s grave is, they noticed this stone, with the line, “I never should have shot that priest.” They commented on it, and a gentleman standing at a nearby grave told Shane that he knew Patrick.

Patrick was a golfer. He had apparently come from Ireland to play golf. When he was playing and made a bad shot, he always commented on his bad luck saying, “I never should have shot that priest!”  -Freda

My family was never one to hang out at the cemetery. We didn’t clean the family graves, or go to community events happening there. We never went to visit grandmothers on Mother’s Day, leave flowers on Easter, or put flags on the graves of our veterans. We watched our dead be put in the ground, and bought a stone for the grave. Then we moved on.

I don’t know what has changed during this last couple of years, but something in my mindset definitely has. I love Greenleaf Cemetery; there’s no other way to put it. When I go there, I find peace, solitude, a sense of history, and even a sense of family.

Year before last we buried my dad at Greenleaf. Dad and I could not possibly have been more different, but he was a wonderful man. I miss him every day, and go to Greenleaf to talk to him. I have grandparents, great grandparents, aunts and uncles, great aunts and great uncles, and a variety of old friends at Greenleaf.

Another wonderful thing about Greenleaf is the sense of history that swirls all around. I am fascinated by the idea that almost 22,000 people have been laid to rest on those grounds. We have veterans from wars all the way back to the Texas war for independence. We have Civil War veterans of the confederacy and the union army buried at Greenleaf. We have both infants and the aged, black and white, folks from many belief systems, and those buried almost two hundred years ago up through today.

So many differences, but all human beings that left people who cared about them.

I want to invite everyone to get involved with Greenleaf Cemetery. Whether you have family there, or enjoy the cemetery for the history or solitude, please join us. We will be posting this blog and information on all the upcoming activities in the Facebook group… Historic Greenleaf Cemetery … A New Day. Please find the page and join the group. We would love to have you!

Greenleaf Cemetery began with only a few acres. It slowly grew as more land was donated or acquired. At this point, Greenleaf is almost a hundred acres. Let’s face it…caring for that takes work.

Until fairly recently, I had no idea what was actually involved, so I want to share with you some of what I have learned.

The obvious thing is mowing. Mowing is not a big deal, of course, except that there are almost a hundred acres, and there are literally thousands of obstacles. Particularly in the older parts of the cemetery, there doesn’t seem to be much rhyme or reason to placement of the stones. (I’m sure there was, I just can’t always see it).

Most of these hundred acres also require weed eating. Each of these thousands of stones must be trimmed around.

Many people visiting family and friends who have passed bring flowers or small mementos to leave at the grave site. Many of the graves also have decorations of all sorts that are put there by family. Each of those tokens are from the heart and show that the person who passed was well-loved. The staff and board of Greenleaf love seeing these things, but that doesn’t change the fact that it makes mowing and trimming harder and much more time consuming.

Both the graves and the memorial stones settle and the ground above a grave can sink as it settles. As the staff finds time, they are regularly filling in dips and holes, as they see them.

There are lots of old stones at Greenleaf. A hundred and fifty years can take a toll. Stones break from age and weather.

Greenleaf Cemetery is quite old, and in the early days many graves were marked with wooden or field stone markers, which couldn’t withstand time and weather. Many graves were never marked at all. The locations of all but the oldest graves are recorded in the cemetery office, but some of the older graves are not. There are people that are known to have been buried at Greenleaf, but the location of their graves aren’t known. There are people that are known to be buried in a particular section, but the exact spot isn’t known. There were also graves on that ground before Greenleaf Fisk even donated the land to be used as a cemetery. The bottom line is that the staff has to be certain that the particular plot is unused before a grave is dug, and it isn’t always easy.

The same staff that is mowing and trimming, is also digging graves several times a week. When everything goes as planned, it takes two people less than an hour to dig and set up for a funeral. Unfortunately, it doesn’t always happen that way. A creek runs along the East side of the cemetery, and when we have a downpour, it fills up and creates issues for any burial in that area. Digging in the rain anywhere on the grounds can be a mess. As they dig with the front-end loader, the sides of the grave can be collapsing. In those situations, before the funeral, the staff must use a generator and pump to empty the hole of water. If the ground is rocky, it gets much trickier.

Parts of the cemetery are very tight, with many headstones and foot stones quite close together. In those areas, the only way to get to where the digging must be done is to lift and move the stones that are already in place, and carefully replace them afterwards.

In addition to all of this, the fence line has to be cleared, litter and fallen branches picked up, trees trimmed, equipment maintained, stones repaired, and people assisted in preparing to bury a loved one, or looking for the grave of a loved one. As with most jobs, it’s never ending.

Greenleaf has only two full-time and two-part time groundskeepers to do all of this.

I know most people have things in their jobs that are hard, time-consuming, dirty, or frustrating. I’m not trying to say that cemetery groundskeeper is any worse or harder than any other job. I’m just pointing out that it isn’t just mowing. It’s a hard job that takes skill and dedication.

Kudos to the four staff members keeping Greenleaf Cemetery looking so beautiful. Kudos to Shane Agan, Jeffery Watson, Daniel Graham, and Ralph Cadena.

The cemetery looks beautiful!

 

 

 

Mark your calendars…Greenleaf Cemetery will hold its Second Annual Mother’s Day Butterfly Release from 1:30 to 2:00 on Sunday, May 13, 2018. The event will be free to all, but donations are welcome, and needed.

 

 

Last Mother’s Day, Greenleaf Cemetery hosted its First Annual Mother’s Day Butterfly Release. It was quite a success. Most of the children at the event helped with the release, and there were lots of smiling faces all around. Flowering plants grow around the office and the grounds, and it’s a pleasure to see the butterflies flitting around.

Steves’ Market and Deli are furnishing the beautiful painted lady butterflies.

 

Event sponsors are Brownwood Funeral Home, Davis-Morris Funeral Home, and Heartland Funeral Home. Since it will probably be a warm day, bottled water will be furnished by PF&E Oil, Reed Memorial, and Sterling Monument. As always, Keep Brownwood Beautiful is partnering with Greenleaf.

 

Butterflies are a fairly common symbol to see in cemeteries. The butterfly represents the soul, leaving the body behind, just as the butterfly leaves the chrysalis behind. As with many symbols, it can mean different things to different people. When you see a butterfly depicted on the grave of a child, it generally symbolizes their short life. For some, the message might be that life is short, but life is beautiful.

 

On Mother’s Day, make a plan to share the beauty of the day with your mother, your children, or with whoever happens by. The butterfly release will be in front of the office, as you enter the front gate. Remember…May 13 at 1:30!  -Freda

 

 

 

 

 

On April 15th, Greenleaf Cemetery had their first annual Blessing of the Animals event. It raised about $1,000 of sorely needed funds. Since Greenleaf presently has zero money to spend on events, even to raise money, the entire event was funded by donations and volunteers.

Sponsors included La Sorella Wine Bar, Trees Forever, KOXE radio, and Moore Printing. Reed Memorial, Sterling Monument, and PF&E sponsored the bottled water to give away to thirsty event-goers.

La Sorella baked dog and cat cookies for the canine and feline participants. Trees Forever furnished the eye catching animal shaped yard art.

Doug House, minister of Union Presbyterian Church of Brownwood, gave the blessings. Other volunteers included Cary Perrin, Steve Harris, Steve Pucket, and John Lee Blagg.

Lots of people and pets made their way through the cemetery. The pets were mostly dogs and cats, of course, with one adorable little goat.

If you missed it, no worries! It’s an annual event, so you’ll have another opportunity next year.  -Freda

 

This is the retelling of a story taken from 1932 Brownwood Banner Bulletin newspapers. Research was done by Cary Perrin.

Joe Meichinger’s parents were both immigrants; his father, Martin, was from Germany, and mother, Josephine, was from Switzerland. Martin struck oil while digging a water well in the location where the old Hotel Brownwood still stands. For a year, he sold the “oil water” as a healing elixir.

Joe Meichinger was fatally shot in his home on April 27, 1932. His widow, Willie Longley Meichinger, and his 17-year-old daughter, Eva Nell Meichinger, were charged with the murder. Eva had spent the year of 1930 as an “inmate” at the Catholic Home for Girls in Dallas. Generally, these homes were for unwed mothers.

Eva confessed to the killing. Mother and daughter were released on bonds of $10,000 each.

During the trial, she told of severe beatings and abuse inflicted on by her father at the slightest provocation. She said that from early childhood, her father beat both her and her mother with heavy straps and horse whips. He repeatedly threatened to kill them both.

Both mother and daughter said they thought at the time that he was about to kill them, and they feared for their lives. The prosecution argued that this wasn’t true.

On the night of the killing, Willie and Eva went to visit a neighbor. They came home to find Joe drunk, sitting in a rocking chair waiting for them. According to testimony by his wife, Joe said he was going out to get something to drink, and he intended to kill them when he got back.

When he returned home, he chased them around the house, beating them with a heavy leather coat. He caught Willie, and was beating her while she laid on Eva’s bed. As this was happening, Willie pulled a pistol out from under the mattress. She tried to shoot him, but the gun wouldn’t fire, so she dropped it.

Eva picked up the gun and tried again to fire, but the gun wouldn’t work. Finally, Joe staggered out of the room, and passed out on a different bed. During that time, Eva fixed the pistol so it would fire. She then took it to the sleeping porch, and stood waiting for her father to wake up. When he awoke, he was again threatening to kill them.

Eva shot him. She emptied the five bullets in the pistol into him, and went to get his shotgun. She shot him again. She then went to get two more shells, and shot him twice more.

Willie went to find her brother, and the two of them reported the killing to the authorities. Willie and Eva were arrested. During the trial, many neighbors and friends from Brownwood and Salt Creek testified as to the abuse in their home.

The first trial had a hung jury, but in the second trial they were both found not guilty. The Brownwood Banner headline on November 23, 1932 was, “Jury frees Mother and Daughter.”

The large headstone pictured in the body of this article is for his father, Martin. The stone placed on Joe’s grave is pictured above, and has only his last name and years of birth and death.  -Freda