Decoration Day

Allison Cemetery--Beantown
September 4, 2004

As the morning mist hung heavy over the mountains and the sun struggled to show it’s face through heavy clouds, 14 descendants of Joshua Henry and Martha Ann Leatherwood Allison gathered atop the beautiful knoll which is the final home of their remains. They came to clean and decorate the cemetery and pay respect to the ancestors.
Despite threatening rain and occasional showers, the 12 adults and 2 children mowed and trimmed the cemetery, straightened the leaning tombstones, cleared the unused portion of the cemetery for future burials, scrubbed the tombstones, and decorated the graves.
The children walked among the tombstones with their grandmother and listened to the names and stories of their ancestors. These two little girls found their place in the family and in the history of the family.
All of us share one common future--a plot in a cemetery. We all hope that someone will remember us by keeping our final resting place neat.
Those who came and worked: Wilburn Owen, Dorothy Hall, Clifford Owen, Carolyn Owen, William Duckett, Kirby Owen, Wanda Campbell, Gladys Messer, Becky Howell, Bob Frady, Debrada Browning, Debbie Browning, Jordan Ledford, Jessica Ledford. Thanks for caring.
Many thanks to the VFW for the American flags, the SCV for the Confederate flags, & Ms. Mary Lucia “Babe” Allison Short of Colorado for flowers.
Debbie & Debrada Browning set up the tent
with the assistance of little Jordan Ledford.
Bob Frady & Gladys Messer clean the
tombstone of Joshua Ryan Turner.
Bob Frady & Debbie Browning clean tombstones.
Wilburn & Kirby Owen work to straighten the leaning tombstone of family patriarch Joshua Henry Allison.
 Wilburn, Kirby, & Clifford Owen straighten
the tombstone of Laura Allison Howell.
Wilburn, Kirby, & Clifford Owen straighten
the tombstome of Evie Lou Owen.
 
Dorothy Hall prunes the hydrangea.
Gladys Messer mowing.
Wanda Campbell, Bill Duckett, Jordan Ledford, & Gladys Messer..
Wanda Campbell scrubbing gravestones.
Wanda Campbell & Gladys Messer cleaning tombstones.
Debbie Browning mowing.
Wilburn & Clifford Owen straighten a tombstone.
Dorothy Hall & Bill Duckett in background.
Carolyn Owen cleans the tombstone of William Allison.
Dorothy Hall & Clifford Owen look over the
newly opened portion of the cemetery.
Gladys Messer cleans a tombstone.
Wiburn Owen, Carolyn Owen, Wanda Campbell, & Gladys Messer.
Gladys Messer & Wilburn Owen look
at the results of their hard work.
 Jessica Ledford cleans the tombstone of her
g-g-g-grandmother, Martha Ann Leatherwood Allison.
 Jordan Ledford cleans the tombstones of her ancestors.
Jessica Ledford makes sure the
flowers on Allison Hall's grave are secure.
 Jessica Ledford places flowers on the graves of her ancestors.
A job well done.
A beautiful place to rest in peace.
Military service honored.
Joshua Henry Allison--CSA
 Debbie Browning, Gladys Messer, Dorothy Hall, & Bob Frady take down the tent & clean up.