Zybach Cemetery

Duane's take

Here's the story as the official marker tells it, straight from Wheeler County, Texas. The Zybach Cemetery was established in 1918, west of Zybach Methodist Church. And the very first soul laid to rest there was Garrett Helton, also in 1918.

That's how a cemetery gets its beginning, quiet and certain, one name and one year to start the count. Now, most cemeteries accumulate their stories slowly, plot by plot, decade by decade. But every now and then, one name rises up from the rest and demands a little extra attention.

That name here is Wiley McCray. Wiley McCray, who was named the World's Greatest Rodeo Clown, not once, but in 1950 and again in 1960. The World's Greatest Rodeo Clown.

You let that settle a moment. There are not many places in Texas where the dirt out back holds somebody with a title like that. The Zybach Cemetery does.

Now, the ground itself has grown over time, and it's worth knowin how that happened, because this cemetery didn't just expand on its own. It expanded because people gave. The original section, called the Old Addition, was one acre, previously owned by Clemans Helton.

The New Addition had belonged to the church, and it was incorporated into the cemetery when the church itself was removed. Then in 1975, Harold Peterman bought an acre to the south and donated it outright. That acre became the Peterman Addition, named for the man who gave it.

And Lucile Tipps and her children donated land to the west, and that became the Tipps Addition. Four additions. Four pieces of ground gathered together over time, each one a gift of one kind or another.

The Zybach Cemetery is still in use today, still holding the names of Wheeler County, from the first burial in 1918 all the way forward. From Garrett Helton at the start, to a man the rodeo world called the greatest of its kind, twice over. Not bad for a quiet stretch of Texas ground.

What the marker says

THE ZYBACH CEMETERY WAS ESTABLISHED IN 1918, WEST OF ZYBACH METHODIST CHURCH. THE FIRST BURIAL, OF GARRETT HELTON, DATES BACK TO 1918, WHILE A UNIQUE BURIAL IS THAT OF WILEY MCCRAY, NAMED "WORLD'S GREATEST RODEO CLOWN" IN 1950 AND 1960. THE CEMETERY'S SIZE HAS CHANGED SEVERAL TIMES. THE "OLD ADDITION" WAS ONE ACRE, PREVIOUSLY OWNED BY CLEMANS HELTON. THE "NEW ADDITION" BELONGED TO THE CHURCH BUT WAS ADDED WITH THE REMOVAL OF THE CHURCH. IN 1975, HAROLD PETERMAN BOUGHT AN ACRE TO THE SOUTH AND DONATED IT, BECOMING THE "PETERMAN ADDITION." LASTLY, LUCILE TIPPS AND HER CHILDREN DONATED LAND TO THE WEST, ADDING THE "TIPPS ADDITION." THE CEMETERY IS STILL IN USE TODAY.