2025 Descendents Day Announcement

2025 DESCENDANTS DAY - Saturday, May 3rd

Western Heights Cemetery

Please join us!

Agenda:

9:00 to 10:15: History breakfast chat, next door at White Rhino Coffee.

Come chat with our expert Research Team and learn more about the cemetery and the families there and how they are related to each other. Hear amazing stories, meet distant cousins, hobnob with other amateur (or not) historians.

9:30 to TBD: Headstone repair hands-on instruction

Headstone repair hands-on instruction by Michael Rowlands of Michaelangelo Historic Stone Preservation and Education.

Please Note: Mike would like to work on patching cracks, resetting leaning stones, etc. of those who have descendants/ family members in attendance, so they can assist if they wish. If you will be attending please email vanindallas2@aol.com and give the names of your ancestors buried at Western Heights so he can do some prep work ahead of time on those stones.

10:30 - 11:55: Cemetery walking tour

(If you don't want to do the walking tour you are welcome to stay at the coffee shop and continue to talk genealogies, cemeteries, and local history.)

12:00: GROUP PHOTO!!!!

Descendants, relatives, and their spouses will be front and center. We will also do another photo with everyone in it -- families, volunteers, board members, and visitors.

1:00 - 3:00 Living Biographies

Hear stories of various cemetery residents told in the first person by storytellers who have studied their lives and times. This was a very popular feature when we introduced it during Preservation Dallas' Cemetery Tour last year.

Please join us on Saturday, May 3rd, for this amazing event!

For those of you on Facebook, here are the links to our various groups if you want to keep up with all the happenings.

Western Heights Cemetery History - Information and discussions about general cemetery history as well as individual graves. Descendants, researchers, genealogists, and history buffs welcome.

Western Heights Cemetery Nature - Thanks to the Constellation of Living Memorials, a grant has been secured to create a pollinator garden and bird habitat.

Western Heights Cemetery Arts - Celebrating The Arts at Western Heights Cemetery -- stone carving, photography, the poetry of epitaphs, readings, storytelling, theatre, and music.

Western Heights Cemetery Volunteers - A place to rapidly connect with volunteers when work days are cancelled due to weather, or to let them know which tools to bring that week, and to answer new volunteers’ questions about parking, etc.

Western Heights Cemetery Visitor Information - Public group for visitors to Western Heights Cemetery. Parking, hours, etiquette, grave locations, etc.

Grave and Biography Research Update