Gober Cemetery

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker at Gober Cemetery has to say, and it's a story worth hearing. Now, every good piece of Texas ground has got a history, and this one starts with a single grave. The earliest recorded burial in Gober Cemetery belongs to R.

M. C. Self, who passed in 1865.

That's where the record begins, anyway. What came before, the land isn't saying. Ten years after that first recorded grave, area settlers looked out at this place and decided it was too beautiful to leave alone.

So they built a tabernacle right here on the site. Something about the land called to them. Oral history carries a story from those early years, the kind of story that tells you a lot about a community.

When Aaron Hassenger died in 1907, he left behind no family and no funds to mark his passing properly. So the community did what communities do when they're worth anything at all. They pooled together and purchased a marble slab for his grave.

The marker tells us that was the custom for those in such circumstances, and you get the feeling it wasn't the first time, and probably wasn't the last. Then came the Carpenter family, long-time residents of the area, who in 1909 donated two and a half acres to the cemetery. A gift of ground.

That's a particular kind of generosity, giving land for the dead so the living have a place to remember. The years kept rolling, and by 1942 the community hired a caretaker and began gathering yearly for memorial services. That tradition of coming together grew roots of its own, and in 1977 those roots got a name when the community formally organized a cemetery association.

By 1997, somebody took the time to count. Nine hundred and sixteen marked graves. Seventy-one unmarked.

And many among them are veterans of the United States military forces, men and women who served and were then brought home to this ground. From one grave in 1865 to nearly a thousand, and the cemetery, the marker is careful to note, continues to serve the community. Some places just keep on doing what they were meant to do.

What the marker says

The earliest recorded grave in this cemetery is that of R. M. C. Self (d. 1865). Attracted by the beauty of the site, area settlers built a tabernacle here ten years later. According to oral history, the community purchased a marble slab for the grave of Aaron Hassenger (1860-1907), as was the custom for those who had no family or funds. The Carpenter family, long-time residences, donated 2.5 acres for the cemetery in 1909. A caretaker was hired in 1942 and community members began to gather yearly for memorial services, forming a cemetery association in 1977. A 1997 count revealed 916 marked and 71 unmarked graves; many are those of veterans of the U. S. military forces. The graveyard continues to serve the community. (1998)