TEXARKANA, Texas - Despite being one of Texarkana's oldest cemeteries, the Rose Hill graveyard produced lively characters Saturday during the Texarkana Museum Systems second Twilight Tour.
Dozens of local history lovers took a guided tour on what turned out to be almost a balmy evening for late fall, watching as local actors brought Texarkana residents from the past back to life.
With landowner R.W Rogers selling the needed acreage, Rose Hill Cemetery opened for business in 1874, about a year after the city's chartering
One of the tour's more serene resurrected speakers was Dr. George Thompson, born in 1911 with a keen interest in studying medicine.
"I joined the U.S. Army Medical Corps and went on to be a captain," he said. "I returned to Texarkana in 1946 and set up my practice in the Jamison Building.
Besides military service members, the cemetery also had some public service office holders like Judge John King who practice law, administered the law and had run-ins with the city's newspaper editor of that time, Mr. William Allen.
"I didn't like some of the reporting Mr. Allen did so I had him arrested for contempt of court." King said.
Rose Hill also wound up having William Allen as permanent resident along with his enemy Judge John King.
"I went on to write many stories and editorials about Judge King's misdeeds and corruption," Allen said.
He put me in jail and set bail for me at an incredible $500," Allen said.
One of the more positive speakers during the evening wound up being Mattie Rosenberg, who died 1934 at age 93 but managed to be one of the oldest women to live during that time period.
"I managed to get a college degree and go to teach school in Cass County," she said.
Otis Henry, a World War I veteran, presented two statues of himself to the audience - one in uniform one in civilian clothes.
"The war would be one of the first mechanized wars, with tanks, machine guns and grenades," he said. "I would die in France, but my mom would have me returned to the U.S and placed right here."