Despite the rain

Saturday's Memories Alive Cemetery Walk had a short rain delay but otherwise went off as scheduled. There was no rain in the forecast I checked early on Saturday morning, so I was quite surprised when rain started early in the afternoon. I looked at the radar and saw a huge patch of green to our southwest. It never rained heavily, but there was light rain and sprinkles until well after 3:00, the start time of the cemetery tour. Despite the rain, the attendance was respectable, with 141 tickets turned in.

It has been the practice of the walking tour committee to not announce beforehand which people are being honored. I do not know if that is a good idea or not. (What do you think?) If you missed the event and would like to know who was portrayed by an actor, here is a summary, organized by year of birth.

 Dianah Evans Moore (1825-1904) was the daughter of Revolutionary War soldier John Evans (1761-1832) of South Carolina. Accounts of her life say that John Evans at one time owned a plantation with slaves, but lost them and moved West. She is the only Real Daughter of the Revolution (meaning that her father fought in the Revolution) buried in Weston Cemetery. She was portrayed by her great, great, great granddaughter.

Mary Ellen Travis Thompson (1830-1916) was married to Alfred Thompson (1829-1896), a prominent banker in early Rensselaer. After he retired from banking in 1881, he devoted himself to his agricultural holdings. Mary Ellen was the driving force behind the establishment of Milroy Park, Rensselaer's first park, and the commissioning of the Milroy statue. Her son, Delos Thompson (1864-1950), was an organizer and later president of the State Bank of Rensselaer.

Benjamin Harris (1838-1916) was a successful and prosperous farmer. He held at least one public office, that of County Surveyor for Newton County from 1876 to 1878. He left much of his wealth to endow the Harris Homes for Widows and Orphans, which continues in existence. His old home in Newton Township is now a drug rehabilitation facility.

Lura Irene Luce Halleck (1865-1941) was a music teacher before she married Abraham Halleck (1860-1944), a prominent businessman, lawyer, and politician. He constructed the first telephone lines in Jasper County, connecting DeMotte, Kniman, and Wheatfield. Lura read law in her husband's office and was admitted to the bar, practicing law with her husband. She had five children. Son Charles (1900-1986) served in Congress from 1935 until 1969, rising to the position of minority leader.

Howard "Lefty" Clark (1894-1979) followed his father into the newspaper business. He was a long-time reporter and editor of the Rensselaer Republican where he wrote a column called "The Gossiper." There is a bench dedicated to him in Hal Gray Park. His father Leslie Clark (1867-1952) was editor of the Rensselaer Journal, which merged with the Rensselaer Republican in 1908.

Leandus "Lonny" Davisson (1895-1918) died in France during WWI. He participated in the Meuse-Argonne offensive, but as most American soldiers who died in service during WWI, his death was from disease, not battle wounds. Originally buried in France, his body was returned to the United States in the 1920s.

Frederick Fendig (1911-2001) was the son of Benjamin Fendig (1868-1934) who owned a drug store in Rensselaer. He became a banker at Harris Trust in Chicago, but left that profession when he purchased the Circle Z Ranch, a guest ranch in southern Arizona that was used as the set of several movies and television shows. Frederick never married and left no offspring.

George Zorich (1916-1967) was a star college football player at Northwestern University who played briefly for the Chicago Bears. He married local girl Jacqueline Dean (1924-2015) and settled in Rensselaer. Active in the parks where he promoted and developed summer athletic programs, the Zorich Park Shelter is named in his honor. (George and Jacqueline had two sons who provided the Historical Society with much information about their father. One of them came from Iowa to attend the Cemetery Walk.)

Some pictures are here. Below is a map that shows where the graves are located.

I was skeptical of the need for eight six-passenger golf carts, but they were filled with people with limited mobility. They were the largest expense of the event but a generous grant from the Jasper-Newton Foundation covered that expense. The event also benefitted a great deal from several sponsors. You can see who they were here.

The early planning for this event is done by a committee of six people. Next year the Walk will probably be west of the Maxwell Ditch. The committee of six people who plan the event will begin with a list of potentially interesting people and stories and then select a tentative group of eight from the list. They will then go to the cemetery and see if the spacing between graves is sufficient—two presenters too close together interfere with each other. They will do additional research or find others to do additional research to see if the people that they think have interesting stories actually do. They then will recruit actors to portray the people they have selected and do the dozens of things that are necessary to make the event function smoothly.

I am amazed when I hear people question if there are enough interesting stories to keep this event going. Right now we have a list of enough potentially interesting people to keep the event going for eight to ten years with no repeats. Each year we find more people to add to the list. Eventually there will be repeats, but by the time that happens, few will remember the original presentations and there will be a different group of people on the committee.

Many of the people who enjoyed the walk completed a survey to give us feedback. My favorite responses were to the question, "When we do this event in the future, what should we change?" "Don't let it rain." and "Less precipitation."