DUANE
Duane's take
The official marker tells it this way, and I'm just here to pass it along. Out in Wheeler County, there's a patch of ground that has been holding the stories of an entire community for well over a century now. It's called Wheeler Cemetery, and the land itself has a beginning you can point to: in 1907, R.M.
Stone and Nellie J. Stone, the original owners of the property, conveyed the site to J.E. Stanley, trustee for the Wheeler Community Graveyard.
Just like that, the ground was set aside. And the ground got busy pretty quick. There are more than two thousand seven hundred recognized graves there today, with the first tombstone dating back to 1904.
That means folks were already being laid to rest before the land was even officially handed over — which tells you something about how a community works, and how it endures. Now, when you start walking those rows, you're walking through the whole sweep of American conflict. At least one veteran of the Civil War rests there.
Thirty-one from World War One. Eighty-one from World War Two. Ten from the Korean War.
Six from Vietnam. And one from Iraq. Generations of Wheeler men and women who went when they were called, and came home to this ground.
But here's where the marker earns its keep, because not every graveyard bothers to tell you what Wheeler Cemetery tells you. Among the notable burials: Abraham Finsterwald, a soldier stationed at Fort Elliott in 1887 and 1888. Also buried there — a bank robber.
And a cat. A bank robber and a cat. Side by side in eternity with Civil War veterans and civic pillars.
Wheeler Cemetery, to its great credit, does not appear to have turned anyone away. Many of the civic leaders who built the community of Wheeler have their final resting place here too — the people who raised the buildings, ran the institutions, kept the lights on. All of them now neighbors to that bank robber, that cat, and more than two thousand seven hundred others who called this corner of the Texas Panhandle home.
The ground don't lie, and Wheeler Cemetery has been tellin' the whole truth about this community since 1904.
What the marker says
THE SITE OF WHEELER CEMETERY WAS CONVEYED TO J.E. STANLEY, TRUSTEE FOR THE WHEELER COMMUNITY GRAVEYARD, BY R.M. STONE AND NELLIE J. STONE, ORIGINAL OWNERS OF THE PROPERTY, IN 1907. THERE ARE MORE THAN 2,700 RECOGNIZED GRAVES WITH THE FIRST TOMBSTONE DATING BACK TO 1904. THE CEMETERY IS THE BURIAL SITE OF MANY VETERANS INCLUDING AT LEAST ONE FROM THE CIVIL WAR, 31 FROM WWI, 81 FROM WWII, 10 FROM THE KOREAN WAR, SIX FROM VIETNAM AND ONE FROM IRAQ. OTHER NOTABLE BURIALS INCLUDE ABRAHAM FINSTERWALD, A SOLDIER STATIONED AT FORT ELLIOTT IN 1887-88; A BANK ROBBER; AND A CAT. MANY CIVIC LEADERS WHO BUILT THE COMMUNITY OF WHEELER HAVE THEIR FINAL RESTING PLACE AT THIS CEMETERY.