Woodlawn Cemetery

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, as best as I can pass it along to you. Out along the historic lower Bonham Road in Collin County, there sits a piece of ground that's been holding the county's stories longer than most folks can remember. Two and a half acres.

That's all. But don't let the size fool you, because Woodlawn Cemetery carries a weight that stretches back to the 1870s, when this land was still the site of the Old Rock Rest Church and School. People were already laying their loved ones to rest here before the century turned, before the county filled in around them, before the roads got names instead of just directions.

By 1882, the plot had been formally deeded over to three trustees. George A. Wilson, William W.

Wallace, and T.C. Boone, and from that point forward, Woodlawn had a name and a legal footing to match its already well-worn purpose. Collin County pioneers found their final rest here, one by one, generation by generation.

Most of those graves date before 1900. You walk among them and you're walking through the founding years of this corner of Texas. But there's one name here that carries a different kind of weight entirely.

Jimmie Geigas. The first soldier from McKinney killed in World War I. He came home to Woodlawn, and the ground that had been quietly keeping pioneer stories since the 1870s took on something new, a grief that reached all the way across an ocean.

Now, on the back of the marker, there's a dedication that quietly anchors all of this to something personal. It reads: given in memory of Mary Klapper Benton, daughter of Philip and Mary Klapper, by her great nieces Lois Head and Birdie Moorhead. Two and a half acres of Texas earth.

Pioneers, a fallen soldier, and a family's love made permanent in stone. That's Woodlawn.

What the marker says

This cemetery, located along the historic lower Bonham Road on the site of the Old Rock Rest Church and School, was first used during the 1870s. The two and one-half acre plot was deeded to cemetery trustees George A. Wilson, William W. Wallace, and T.C. Boone in 1882. Woodlawn Cemetery is the burial place for many Collin county pioneers. Jimmie Geigas, the first soldier from McKinney killed in World War I, also is buried here. With most of the graves dating before 1900, Woodlawn remains a significant example of a pioneer cemetery. (1984) Incise on back: Given in memory of Mary Klapper Benton, daughter of Philip and Mary Klapper, by her great nieces Lois Head and Birdie Moorhead.