JOHNSON CEMETERY PHOTOS
Send in by Phil Hysell
These are photos that my Aunt Thelma Hysell took on a Memorial (Decoration)
Day in the very early 1950s
of our family trip to decorate my grandfather's
grave (Alexander Ora Hysell).
Below is a view of my grandfather's grave with the homemade tombstone (more
appropriately, tomb-box) that my dad and his sister,
Thelma, built to house
flowers for his grave. The photo gives a view of a house that was in close
proximity to the cemetery near James River Road.
Below is another
view of Alexander Ora Hysell's grave.
One can see the hilly nature of the cemetery and also see that there were
numerous simple metal
funeral home markers that were on most of the graves in Johnson Cemetery.
From left to
right - with box, my Grandmother Leora Bailey Wellman,
my dad's mother Fannie Shaver Hysell, my father, Johnnie B. Hysell holding my
younger sister, Peggy.
One can see other tombstones of Johnson Cemetery as well as what appears to be a
stone retaining wall (of sorts) on which my dad is resting his foot.
This shot shows
yet a wider view of the Johnson Cemetery area. My grandmother, Leora (with
purse) is at left.
I am carrying handmade flowers in a box for the graves. My dad and Fanny
are in the background chatting with friends.
Memorial Day (or Decoration Day, as it was called then) was a day that
involved trips to many family cemeteries to lay artificial flowers
(made by dad's sisters and mother) on the family graves. We would always
meet old acquaintances and have such chats along the way.
Many more of the typical metal funeral home markers are visible along with a few
stones.
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Thanks to Phil Hysell for these Great Pictures
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