Idalou Cemetery

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker says about Idalou Cemetery, out there in Lubbock County. Now every community has a place where it keeps its promises to the people who came before, and in Idalou, that place starts with a deed and two acres of farmland. In 1920, John William Turner, Jr. and his wife Mary Alice made a decision.

They took two acres of their own farm and deeded it as a burial ground. And right alongside that deed, the Idalou Cemetery Association was formed. The ground was given, the organization was standing, and the work of remembering could begin.

The first person laid to rest there was Weldon Fred Turner, an infant nephew of the Turners themselves. No fancy stone marked the spot. Just a homemade marker, set by hands that were grieving and doing what they could.

Then in May of 1921, C.J. and Mary Hallmark buried their infant son, also named C.J. And that same July, a thirteen-year-old girl named Mable Gladis Andrews was interred there too. Those early years carried a weight that numbers alone don't fully hold.

The ground kept growing. In 1928, the Turners and a woman named Selma Graves donated more land to the burial ground. Over the decades that followed, the association accepted additional donations, and the cemetery grew until it reached its present size of eight acres.

Along the way, leaders stepped up to carry the work forward. E.T. Daniell, W.M.

Weaver, and H.W. Lasater all served the association in those early years. And in the early twenty-first century, a non-denominational memorial chapel was added, named after Madison Sowder, who was born in 1927 and died in 2007, a longtime trustee of the cemetery.

One thing has never changed about this place. It has always been a public entity, owned and operated by the community. Volunteers and families have always shown up for workdays to help maintain the site.

No institution handed this down from on high. Neighbors kept it. Today the cemetery features curbed plots and numerous upright shoulder stones, those grave marker designs that are so characteristic of the twentieth century.

The open prairie landscape sets it all off, with native plantings stretching out around it the way the land always has. And who rests here? Veterans of all branches of the United States military, men and women who served in peacetime and in every conflict since World War I.

Descendants from all over the United States, laid to rest in traditional family plots, generation upon generation. Idalou Cemetery is a link, the marker says. A link to the many generations who have contributed to the history of this place.

And when you stand out there on those eight acres of open prairie, with the homemade marker of a child near where everything began, that word, link, feels exactly right.

What the marker says

John William Turner, Jr. and his wife, Mary Alice, deeded two acres of their farm as a burial ground in 1920. At this time, the Idalou Cemetery Association was formed. The first interment was for the Turners' infant nephew, Weldon Fred Turner, whose grave is indicated by a homemade marker. In May 1921, C.J. and Mary Hallmark buried their infant son C.J., and 13-year-old Mable Gladis Andrews was interred in July. In 1928, the Turners and Selma Graves donate more land to the burial ground. Over the next decades, the association accepted additional land donations, which increased the cemetery to its present size of eight acres. In the early twenty-first century, a non-denominational memorial chapel named after Madison Sowder (1927-2007), longtime trustee, was added. Early leaders who served on the cemetery association include E.T. Daniell, W.M. Weaver and H.W. Lasater. Throughout its history, the cemetery has always been a public entity, owned and operated by the community, with volunteers and families attending workdays to help maintain the site. Today, the cemetery's features include curbed plots and numerous upright shoulder stones typical of 20th century grave marker designs, and the open prairie landscape highlights native plantings. Idalou is the final resting place of veterans of all branches of the U.S. military who served in peacetime and in all conflicts since World War I. Descendants from all over the United States are buried in the numerous traditional family plots located here. The cemetery is a link to the many generations who have contributed to the history of Idalou. Historic Texas Cemetery - 2002