Decoration Day
This tradition has been to come to the cemetery on the last Saturday in April, a time for families to honor their loved ones by placing flowers on their graves. It has also been the day of the annual Association meeting.
Many remember gathering roses from the fragrant, newly blooming spring rose bushes, wrapping empty tin cans with foil, and placing the rose and water-filled cans onto the gravesites. As families arrived on Saturday or Sunday to place their flowers, someone representing the cemetery would be available to collect the donations which historically was the only income for cemetery maintenance.
Although silk flowers have replaced the real ones, there is a peaceful beauty to be enjoyed during that weekend.
In keeping with changing times and to accommodate the numerous and varied activities of the Association membership, Decoration Day is now observed on the last Saturday of April and includes the annual Association meeting at the Flower Mound Presbyterian Church.
Decoration Sunday Dinner
On the historical Decoration Day a dinner was held on the grounds of the church. The gathering usually involved fried chicken, potato salad, chocolate cake and soda pop iced down in washtubs. The meal was spread on tables under the tabernacle that was in the same place as the one seen today west of the Flower Mound Presbyterian Church. Friends and families looked forward to being together, remembering loved ones, and sharing good food.
When Decoration Day was moved to Saturday, the dinner became refreshments. Friends and families continue to come together to honor their loved ones, for fellowship, and to attend the annual Association meeting. Association membership is made up of family members whose loved ones are buried in the cemetery.
Caring For the Cemetery Over the Years
Care of the cemetery has evolved from each family’s taking care of its own plots, to someone living close taking care of keeping the area free of debris and mowed as volunteers could be found, to hiring mowers as long as the donations could support mowing.
The collection of donations during Decoration, however, continued until failing health of family patriarchs ended the on site collection, and a dedicated group of volunteers began a letter writing campaign to solicit donations for the maintenance of the cemetery. Over time different individuals were paid from the collected funds to mow the grounds.
As time passed, it became apparent that a more formal, organized effort was needed. There was income from the sale of plots in conjunction with the Mulkey-Mason Funeral Home, with whom we have enjoyed a long and close relationship, individual donations arriving near the date of Decoration, donations made throughout the year recognizing dates of death, and legacy donations from wills.
In order to provide a formal management of the cemetery and secure an administrative oversight of funds, an association was formed with a Board of Directors and Bylaws. The duly elected Board holds at least two meetings a year in addition to the Annual membership meeting each April. Anyone who has a loved one buried in the cemetery is a member of the Flower Mound Cemetery Association.
