Western Heights Cemetery

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Way out here in Dallas County, there's a piece of ground that has been holding onto its people since the 1850s, and some of those people are more famous than others. This is Western Heights Cemetery, and it has got a story worth stoppin' for.

The land itself sits on part of the original William Coombes Survey, which ought to give you some sense of just how far back this ground goes. Before it carried the name Western Heights, it was known simply as Troth. Then came 1881, when two men, Z.E.

Coombes and W.R. Fisher, formally dedicated the place and set aside land for, and I love the phrasing here, a graveyard forever. Not temporarily.

Not for the time bein'. Forever. Now that's a commitment.

Among the pioneers resting here are the very men who made that dedication: W.R. Fisher and Z.E. Coombes themselves, alongside John and Rosina Loupot, Mary Ellen Cole Tuggle, and Heinrich and Anna Struck.

Folks who built something out of nothing and then returned to the earth that was already waitin' on them. Veterans of the Civil War found their rest here too, and then men who came back, or didn't come back whole, from World Wars I and II. The weight of all of that history is considerable.

But then, buried right alongside those pioneers and soldiers, are two names that tend to make people's eyebrows go up: Clyde and Buck Barrow. Same ground. Same forever.

Trinity Oaks Church of Christ maintains the cemetery today, keepin' that 1881 promise. A graveyard forever, they said. Turns out, they meant it.

What the marker says

Located on part of the original William Coombes Survey, burials in this cemetery date to the 1850s. Originally known as Troth, it was formally dedicated in 1881, when land was set aside for a "graveyard forever" by Z.E. Coombes and W.R. Fisher. Pioneers interred here include W.R. Fisher, Z.E. Coombes, John and Rosina Loupot, Mary Ellen Cole Tuggle, and Heinrich and Anna Struck. Also buried here are veterans of the Civil War and World Wars I and II, and Clyde and Buck Barrow. Trinity Oaks Church of Christ maintains the historic cemetery. (1988)