By LA TONYA THOMAS/Daily Sun Staff

Every person deserves a nice place to call home, regardless if the person is dead or alive.

The dead at the Zion's Rest Cemetery on North Beaton Street in Corsicana have no control over the condition of their home, but don't they still deserve a nice one?

Gayle Horton thinks they do.

Recently, she sent a letter to the Daily Sun describing how much disarray the cemetery was in before work began on it.

"This cemetery was in really bad shape," she said. "(There were major problems such as) broken head stones, vines, poison ivy, and weeds (standing) head high," she said.

Horton, who has a great-grandmother buried there, said her niece Janet Allred has been using her own money to maintain the cemetery.

Allred right now has been paying around $1,200 a year for a mowing service to keep the cemetery looking good. But supplying the funds for it hasn't been easy.

Before Allred's involvement with the care and maintenance, Bill Young along with his landscape crew and another landscaping crew did work on the cemetery. He owns Arrow Landscape located in Corsicana.

Bobbie Young, Bill's wife, said at least $5,000 was spent to fix it up.

"It was terrible," she said.

Currently, Horton and Allred have been trying to find people who have loved ones buried at the cemetery to help with the cost of maintenance.

So far, their efforts have proven futile.

Allred and her aunt are also unable to find the original owners of the cemetery and it isn't even on file at the Navarro County Central Appraisal district office.

Before the passing of Terry Sutton, who once oversaw the Zion Rest Cemetery Association, Allred said Sutton had information regarding contact names, telephone numbers and addresses of people with loved ones buried at the cemetery. However, that information was displaced and is yet to be found.

Allred and her aunt can't expect to get assistance from the city to care and maintain the cemetery.

"It's not a city-owned cemetery and we couldn't be responsible because we don't have the authority to do anything to it," said Corsicana City Manager Truitt Gilbreath.

The city of Corsicana is only responsible for the Oaklawn, Modrell, and Woodland cemeteries.

Anyone believing they have a relative buried there or just wants to offer a donation can send it to Zion's Rest Cemetery, c/o Janet Allred; P.O. Box 48; Corsicana, Tx 75151. Also, people can contact Allred or her aunt for more information or to give some information at (903) 872-7805 or (903) 874-6787.

LaTonya Thomas may be reached via e-mail at [email protected].

Corsicana Daily Sun, Letter to the Editor - May 24, 2002

We need your help!

To the Editor: There is a cemetery in Corsicana that no one will claim, and as a result it has been forsaken for a number of years.

The cemetery has looked better this last year than any other time in the recent history.

People, this cemetery was in really bad shape. The J.L. Halbert Camp along with Bill Young and Company got the ball rolling. One of the local Boy Scout troops cleaned it the next time; they also made a Zion's Rest Cemetery sign and put it up at the cemetery. But alas it fell to despair once again.

I'm talking "major problems" - broken headstone, vines, poison ivy, weeds head high. But I enlisted the help of Richie Holloway and once again it was cleaned up.

We then formed an association, consisting of myself, Charles Harrison, Roy Miller, Vicki Andrews and Gayle Horton, with Tiffany Guthrie serving as secretary.

We wrote letters to everyone that we thought had a loved one buried there, and asked for donations. In the meantime Janet hired someone to take care of the cemetery at $100 per month. Now after more than a year and very few donations we are back to square one. We have tried to get grants, talked to the city, and really have exhausted all avenues. If you know of any thing else we can do, or know what happened to the original association if there indeed was one, please contact us at (903) 872-7805 or (903) 874-6787.

Listed below are a few of the names of the ones buried there, along with the year they died: Joe Chandler 1941, Lula Chandler 1908, J.M. Peden 1881, Ruthie E. Smith 1941, lda Lena Dycus 1925, Joseph L. Duncan 1879, H.E. Taddle 1985, J.E. McNeil 1907, Tom Crenshaw 1910, Mrs. Belle Jones 1902, D.M. Flanagan 1907, James R. Simpson 1935, J.A. Davis 1920, Charley B. Farmer 1889, John B. Farmer 1915, Martha A. Farmer 1916, William C. Capps 1933, Gerald Ridens 1940, Elma 0. Crawford 1895, Ed. H. Pocket 1944, John H. Puckett 1923, Catherine Kimbrell 1886, Zula Alexander 1892, Terry Riley 1889, Meredith Collins 1930, Tom M. Collins 1942, J.W. Bunry 1919, Perry A.. Reed 1966, A.P. Reeves 1906, Ginevra Thompson 1917, Preston Farmer 1895, J.B. Simpson 1903, Elma Barlow 1899, Ivyana Bennett 1896, Marilda P. Deen 1893, Emery Jackson 1895, Lucy Ann Jackson 1884, Jeff Davis Butler 1900, Mary C. Stripling 1877, William Melton 1873, John Green 1889, John T. Barnaby 1883, L.A. Ward 1897, Aunt Martha May 1902, L.J. Cunningham 1927, Lula Stout 1899, Dorthy Mae Cook 1932, Dewey M. Broome 1901, Willie C. Stroud 1906, Mary S. Welborn 1903, Billie Ray Blake 1930, Clay Thomas Steely 1900, Margarette J Drain 1923, Less M. Drain 1904, Hattie F. Drain 1903, W.D. Drain 1910, Fannie Drain, 1910, J.B. Grantom 1949, George Buchanan 1960, Thomas F. Burns 1937, G.L. Richardson 1943, Earl E. Hulsey 1934, Mrs. C.A. Williams 1938, Thomas F. Finch 1905, Harvey Ray 1910, Cortez Sikes 1915, Mary E. Barlow Sikes 1977, A.M. Eppler 1929, Mary A. Montgomery 1925, William E. Winter 1978, Maggie Richards 1943, C.C. Richards 1925.

These are only a few of the names that are out there. There are at least 200 more including three civil war solders.

There are numerous old metal markers scattered throughout the cemetery. If you recognize any of these names, as part of your family, please send a donation.

Anything will be appreciated I can assure you. You may send your donation to Zion's Rest Cemetery, in care of Janet Allred, P.0. Box 48, Corsicana, Texas 75151.

Those loved ones resting in Zion's Rest Cemetery deserved to have a clean, mowed grave site.

Will you please help in any way you can?

Sincerely Janet Allred

Zion's Rest Cemetery Association

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