Cover Cemetery

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Cover Cemetery, out here in Bexar County. Now, some places earn their history slow, acre by acre, generation by generation, and Cover Cemetery is exactly that kind of place. It starts with two people: John B.

Cover, born in 1857, and his wife, Virginia Steele Cover, born in 1860. Sometime in the late 1800s, this couple donated a piece of land. That land became Cover Cemetery.

The oldest marked grave you'll find there is dated November 1896, which means the ground was already doing its solemn work not long after the donation was made. Buried within those boundaries are Cover family members, close friends, and veterans. And among them rests a man named Tommy Ferril, who, the marker tells us plainly, lived to be one hundred and seven years old.

One hundred and seven. You let that number sit for a moment out here on the road. Then the story moves forward to 1994, when a second tract of land was donated to the cemetery, this time through the estate of Dr.

Ellen C. Cover, born in 1886, died in 1965. Now, Dr.

Ellen Cover was a physician and surgeon, and she did not stop at that second land donation. She also donated land for the Cover Youth Center, and she established a scholarship program for Cover family members. That is a person who understood that legacy is not just about where you lay the dead but about what you build for the living.

Today, Cover family descendants maintain the cemetery and its records. Two donations of land, one scholarship, one youth center, veterans and a hundred-and-seven-year-old man resting in the same quiet ground. The Cover family, it seems, has always known how to take care of their own.

What the marker says

COVER CEMETERY JOHN B. COVER (1857-1914) AND HIS WIFE, VIRGINIA STEELE COVER (1860-1925), DONATED LAND IN THE LATE 1800s THAT BECAME THE COVER CEMETERY. THE OLDEST MARKED GRAVE IS DATED NOV. 1896. MANY COVER FAMILY MEMBERS, CLOSE FRIENDS AND VETERANS ARE BURIED IN THE CEMETERY, INCLUDING TOMMY FERRIL, WHO LIVED TO BE 107 YEARS OLD. IN 1994, A SECOND TRACT WAS DONATED TO THE CEMETERY THROUGH THE ESTATE OF DR. ELLEN C. COVER (1886-1965). DR. ELLEN COVER, A PHYSICIAN AND SURGEON, ALSO DONATED LAND FOR THE COVER YOUTH CENTER AND ESTABLISHED A SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM FOR COVER FAMILY MEMBERS. COVER FAMILY DESCENDANTS MAINTAIN THIS HISTORIC CEMETERY AND ITS RECORDS.