Green Memorial Park Cemetery

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Green Memorial Park Cemetery, down in Lynn County. Pull over if you can, because this one's got layers. Now, you'd think a place named Green Memorial Park Cemetery would be the resting ground of a man who spent his days right there in Wilson, Texas.

Walking the streets, knowing his neighbors, watching the town grow up around him. You would think that. But William G.

Green never lived in Wilson. Never lived in Lynn County at all. And yet his name is on the streets, on the places, and on this very cemetery.

How does a man leave that kind of mark without ever settin' foot to stay? It starts in 1906. William G.

Green and his associates came out of Shiner, Texas, and purchased land in this part of the world. A short time later, Green and a man named Lonnie Lumsden, who was Green's cousin and an Arkansas native, bought land from the Wilson County School Lands Block in Lynn County. By 1909, sections of that land were being sold to farmers and settlers, and the community that grew up there came to be known as Wilson.

Green, as I said, never stayed. But Lonnie Lumsden did. He moved to Wilson shortly after purchasing land, and he lived there his entire life.

The marker calls him a tireless advocate for the city, and that phrase carries weight. While one man lent his name to the place, another man gave it his years. Lonnie Lumsden, born in 1877 and gone in 1951, and his wife Callie, born in 1885 and gone in 1981, are both buried in Green Memorial Park Cemetery, along with their descendants.

The first recorded burial in that ground belongs to Thomas E. Dawson, the father of Callie Lumsden, who was laid to rest there in December of 1923. But here's a detail worth sittin' with: two cenotaphs, memorials for Richard Williams and Samuel Coleman, stand in that cemetery with dates earlier than Dawson's.

The soil may hold one story, but the stones tell another. This cemetery holds pioneer families and veterans reaching all the way back to the Civil War. John Bone King, born in 1844 and died in 1935, is buried there, a Civil War veteran.

So are World War II veterans William Green Lumsden, born in 1917 and gone in 1974, and Guadalupe Arellano, born in 1920 and gone in 2005. And if you walk that ground and read those names, you get a picture of who built Wilson. German American families: Wilke, Gicklhorn, Steinhauser, Talkmitt, Dube.

Hispanic families: Bustamante, Garces, Rodriguez. All of them there, all of them part of what that community was. In 1930, a cemetery association was established to maintain the place, and it's been keepin' watch ever since.

William G. Green put his name on this land and moved on. Lonnie Lumsden put down roots and never left.

And in the end, they're both remembered in the same ground, one by inscription and one by burial. That's Wilson, Texas, for you. The names that last aren't always the ones you'd expect.

What the marker says

Located south of the townsite of Wilson, Green Memorial Park Cemetery was established as part of the farming community of Wilson. In 1906, William G. Green and his associates from Shiner, Texas, purchased land and a short time later Green and Lonnie Lumsden (1877-1951), Arkansas native and cousin to Green, bought land from the Wilson County School Lands Block in Lynn County. By 1909, sections were sold to farmers and settlers of the area that came to be known as Wilson. Although Green never resided in Wilson or Lynn County, many of the streets and places bear his name, including Green Memorial Park Cemetery. Lonnie Lumsden, however, moved to Wilson shortly after purchasing land and lived there his entire life and was a tireless advocate for the city. Lonnie and his wife, Callie Lumsden (1885-1981), are buried in Green Memorial Park Cemetery, along with descendants. The first recorded burial is that of Thomas E. Dawson, the father of Callie Lumsden, in December 1923. However, two cenotaphs for Richard Williams and Samuel Coleman are present with earlier dates. Many pioneer families and veterans dating to the Civil War are buried here, including Civil War veteran John Bone King (1844-1935) and World War II veterans William Green Lumsden (1917-1974) and Guadalupe Arellano (1920-2005). In addition, evidence of the thriving German American and Hispanic population of Wilson is found throughout the cemetery in such family names as Wilke, Gicklhorn, Steinhauser, Talkmitt and Dube, as well as Bustamante, Garces and Rodriguez. A cemetery association was established in 1930 to maintain this historic cemetery, a tangible reminder of the area's heritage. Historic Texas Cemetery - 2016