Pipe Creek Cemetery commemorates sesquicentennial

The Pipe Creek Cemetery Association is observing the 150 years that the cemetery has served the community and will honor the occasion next spring by dedicating a Historical Marker at the cemetery location, 1134 FM 1283, in Pipe Creek.

The cemetery began as a family burial area on the property of Chloe Andress’ 1871 homestead. Andress set aside two acres of her land for burial. Her daughter, Emslee Andress Shirley was the first to be buried there in 1872.

Over time, Andress buried a son and daughter-in-law, then allowed others to inter family members there. Those two acres became known as the Pipe Creek Cemetery.

Andress deeded her homestead to her son John Lewis Andress in 1876. In 1881, Pipe Creek citizens petitioned the county for a public school. John Andress, and his wife Murtice, deeded one acre on the west side of the cemetery to the county for a school.

A small building was erected and became a public school during the week. It was Bandera County School District 21. The building became a church meeting place on Sundays, with different denominations rotating each week.

Because of the church, it was expected that the church members would bury their dead on the same property.

In 1891, Andress and his wife dedicated the two acres that housed the cemetery and the school to the public.

At that time, the three Pipe Creek School trustees began serving as the trustees of the Pipe Creek Cemetery, as assigned by the deed. The original trustees were Felix Grundy Newcomer, Franklin Hodges and John Andress.

In April of 1923, the Pipe Creek Cemetery Association was formed. At their first meeting, they decided to continue working as volunteers. Dues were implemented to help with expenses.

At that time, the dues were 25 cents per month and were sent to T. A. Lewis, who was the first secretary of the association.

By 1924, the school building was moved a mile north near the Pipe Creek business district.

Originally, family members had the responsibility of burying their dead. After 1939, when funeral homes became common, professional grave diggers were used.

That year, Al Plummer of Kerrville purchased a funeral home in Bandera. In 1977, Plummer sold that funeral home, and the one he owned in Kerrville, to John and Susie Grimes of Kerrville.

A tornado hit the area in April 1939. Several lives were lost and the cemetery records were destroyed.

In 1949 ,the school trustees petitioned the county judge and deeded the one acre, with the school building, to the Pipe Creek Cemetery Association and it became part of the cemetery.

The last year students attended the Pipe Creek School was 1950. Afterward, the students were merged into the Bandera School District.

The current Pipe Creek Cemetery Association was formed in September 1974. The first trustees were Milton Lewis, Gene Ruede, and Earl White, Sr. Mrs. T. A. Lewis managed the cemetery funds.

It was these trustees who erected the entrance gate with the arch spelling out Pipe Creek Cemetery. The interior road was paved and a grave registration was begun, with 310 graves recorded.

The annual dues are $15 per year, per family, payable each September. They are tax deductible since the association is a 501(c)3 organization.

In 1986, Adolf Schott donated 2.6 acres to the cemetery. In 1995, Schott’s widow, Rosa Lee Schott donated five more acres to the cemetery.

The current trustees are David Evans, Jeanene Mansfield, and James Douglas White.

White is the well-known Doug White of Chicken Car fame and he has served as the association secretary and treasurer since 1990.

The association looks forward to the dedication of the historical marker in the spring and invites the public to attend. The date will be announced.

For more information, email Doug White at pcwhiteknight@yahoo.com.