Gruver Cemetery

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Gruver Cemetery, out there in Hansford County. Now settle in, because this one starts with a family, a patch of Texas ground, and a date that'll make you look twice. In 1907, Joseph Hezkiah Gruver, his wife Addie Reed Gruver, and their son Lawrence packed up and moved out of Missouri, setting down roots in this stretch of the Panhandle.

And here is where you slow down and read carefully, friend, because the marker gives Joseph Hezkiah Gruver the years 1863 to 1962. You heard that right. Let those years stand on their own and speak for themselves, because they are something.

The Gruver family came, they settled, and the land around them slowly came to life. A post office arrived in 1927, and businesses followed right behind it, the way businesses do when people decide a place is worth staying. Then comes 1929, and two things happen that define what this ground would become.

At the request of a man named Clarence Winder, a fellow by the name of J.B. Dulin donated ten acres of land to be set aside as Gruver Memorial Park, the place we now know as Gruver Cemetery. Ten acres, given over, just like that.

And on March 9th of that same year, 1929, Willie A. Winder, Clarence's mother, became the first person buried there. The park became a cemetery the moment it received her.

Decades later, in 1970, Cecil and Margaret Ralston added more acreage to the grounds. Today, juniper trees frame the place, standing quiet around granite and marble headstones that carry the names and dates of the people who built the Gruver area. A family came from Missouri.

A man gave ten acres. And the land has been keeping the record ever since.

What the marker says

GRUVER CEMETERY IN 1907, JOSEPH HEZKIAH GRUVER (1863-1962), HIS WIFE, ADDIE REED GRUVER, AND THEIR SON, LAWRENCE, MOVED FROM MISSOURI AND SETTLED IN THIS AREA. A POST OFFICE WAS ESTABLISHED IN 1927 AND SOON BUSINESSES FOLLOWED. IN 1929, AT THE REQUEST OF CLARENCE WINDER, MR. J.B. DULIN DONATED TEN ACRES OF LAND TO BE KNOWN AS GRUVER MEMORIAL PARK, NOW GRUVER CEMETERY. ADDITIONAL ACREAGE WAS ADDED BY CECIL AND MARGARET RALSTON IN 1970. ON MARCH 9, 1929, WILLIE A. WINDER, CLARENCE'S MOTHER, BECAME THE FIRST PERSON BURIED IN THE CEMETERY. THE LANDSCAPE OF THE CEMETERY IS TRADITIONAL WITH JUNIPER TREES SURROUNDING GRANITE AND MARBLE HEADSTONES THAT DOCUMENT THE HISTORY OF THE GRUVER AREA.