Subject: WHCA IS OFFICIAL!!!!!! 

Thanks to my good friend and our steadfast volunteer Cynthia Konda,

And my good friend, Board member, and attorney Melissa Thrailkill,

And my good friend and end of the block neighbor, and conveniently -- attorney -- Rose Mercer...

The Secretary of State of Texas has certified Western Heights Cemetery Association as a Domestic Nonprofit Corporation, effective Jan. 12!!  See attached.  

WOO and HOO!!!!  Red letter day.

THANK YOU CYNTHIA, MELISSA, AND ROSE!!!!!

Cynthia has formed nonprofits before and volunteered to do the paperwork for us.  Melissa researched the Texas Cemetery Code -- we are NOT a Cemetery entity for the purposes of the Code, thank goodness, and helped us with our Purpose statement. It took many edits and revisions to get everything we needed into the Purpose box but we were finally successful.

Cynthia doesn't have a home printer, nor do I so after she emailed it to me I asked my good friend and across the street neighbor (and our Treasurer) Jen to print it for me, but she was in Florida.  So I asked Rose and then she also volunteered to file it for us after I signed it!!

(Just explaining why we have now had dealings with a THIRD law firm in case anyone finds that confusing.  One law firm is our Registered Agent, and then Board member Melissa and ally Rose in two other law firms helped us separately as described above.)

NEXT STEPS:

Rose will file for a Federal Employer Identification Number.  We can then finalize the liability insurance and open a bank account.   No rush on the bank account until we have money.  (FWADG is holding $19,000 for us and paying our expenses until our 501(c)3 the status is approved and then they will transfer the then-remaining balance to us at that time.)

The Board will at next week's meeting review and approve liabilityinsurancecoverage and Van will sign.

Jen will do the 501c3 filing.

AND THIS IS A VERY RECENT DEVELOPMENT:

Melissa will get us appointed by the District Court as custodian and caretaker of Western Heights Cemetery under Texas Health and Safety Code, Title 8, Subtitle C, Chapter 713 Local Regulation of Cemeteries and Chapter 715 Certain Historic Cemeteries!!!

We are now officially grown ups and no longer kids putting on hokey plays in Judge Hardy's barn with our moms making costumes! (Had to throw in a Judy Garland reference for good luck. LOL)

Thank you all for your support, time, skills, and enthusiasm,

Van Johnson

President 

Western Heights Cemetery Association 

P O Box 225461

Dallas TX 75222

We've made very little progress this year due to the lack of water access and will continue to have very little progress until we get the water line installed. Sorry we don't have more to report but we are basically stuck until our parent organization gets the water line installed.

Most of us have seen impressive footage of the Great African Migration in Tanzania and Kenya with vast herds of wildebeest, zebras, and antelope which move over distances of up to 1,000 miles as the seasons fluctuate between rainy and dry. Another of the world's truly great migrations takes place in North America, but it is so big, and the individuals are so small, it is impossible to see large portions of it at once -- the many millions of monarch butterflies every autumn.

Western Heights Cemetery

Descendants Day & Family Photo

Sunday, April 7th, 3:00

GUIDING PRINCIPLES

Long-term Design & Maintenance

First draft 9/21/23

Revised 12/16/23

At Western Heights Cemetery we plan to place flags on the known veterans’ graves and conduct cemetery tours on both Memorial Day (May 27) and Veterans Day (November 11) this year.

Western Heights Cemetery Research Sources

Compiled by Van Johnson, Nov. 2023