Brownwood News – Friends of Greenleaf Cemetery will be organizing a clean-up on Saturday, June 3rd, along with participation in a unique headstone documentation program.
“On Saturday we will be at Greenleaf Cemetery with our GPS enabled phones to document the physical location of the graves of departed veterans, allowing for mapping for family members to easily find their loved ones, and allowing volunteers to make sure flags are placed on Memorial Day and headstones are cleaned with care,” said volunteer Trenton Ray.
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Participants will be using the free BillionGraves app (available in your mobile device’s app store) to capture a digital history of the final resting places of the veterans’ graves.
The event will begin at 7 a.m. at Greenleaf Cemetery, located off Highway 377 South (Brady Highway) across the railroad tracks within the city limits of Brownwood. Participants are encouraged to bring their iPhone, Android phone or tablet (must have GPS), or a 3G iPad2 or 3G iPad3, fully charged with the BillionGraves app already installed. It is also recommended to bring a car charger if you have one (GPS uses a lot of battery).
The Greenleaf Cemetery was established in 1868. Greenleaf Fisk gave five acres to the town for a burial place, and two and one half acres each the Pecan Valley IOOF Lodge No. 236, October 26, 1883, and to the Brownwood Masonic Lodge No. 141 AF and AM, December 3, 1883, making a total of ten acres for burial purposes. There has been four additions to the cemetery since then and now has over 18,000 burials. A section was set aside in 1958 for members of the Catholic denomination. The cemetery was named Round Mountain and later renamed Greenleaf. The Brownwood Garden Club built the present entrance. During 1918 they averaged about four burials a day due to the flu epidemic. At this time they had four crews digging day and night.
The Greenleaf Cemetery Association was incorporated April 10, 1923 The Greenleaf Cemetery is a non-profit perpetual care cemetery. Its governing body consists of five board members, elected by members of the Greenleaf Cemetery Association. The cemetery is located off Highway 377 South (Brady Highway) across the railroad tracks within the city limits of Brownwood.