Highland Cemetery - Melissa TX

09/21/2025

In May, Highland Cemetery had a number of monuments repaired by Texas Cemetery Restoration. Storms last year took our large tree we met under for many years. The tree damaged several nearby monuments when it came down. We identified those monuments damaged by the tree and others that were dangerous and in most urgent need of repairs. The board approved the proposal in May and the team was finished with the restoration project by June. A full report will be included at the October meeting. Here are some photos from the project including several before and afters. Thank you for your support of Highland Cemetery!

09/21/2025

Dear Friends of Highland Cemetery,

It is time for our Fall cemetery association meeting and decoration. We will meet at the cemetery on Sunday, October 5th, weather permitting, at 2:00pm. If the weather is questionable, please meet at Bob Miller Park pavilion at 1906 Miller Rd in Melissa. While there may be someone working at the cemetery on October 4 & 5, there may not be anyone there to greet you until near meeting time. Donations are always gratefully accepted via snail mail or Venmo to keep our cemetery looking beautiful and help with any projects. Please contact me for details.

The Texas Historical Commission Historic Texas Cemetery Medallion, which will be added to our existing historical marker, and the War of 1812 designation for Robert French Strother are still pending.

We have had the following burials at Highland since the last letter went out:
Herbert Bernard Reed 11 Nov 1954 - 12 July 2025
Rubylin Slaughter Sharp 13 Aug 1930 - 24 Aug 2025
John Doe #2 ca 2005 - Sept 2024

Rubylin and her husband, Bill Sharp, were cemetery board members and helpers for a long while. We had a financial advisory committee that met at their house occasionally. Bill and my husband, Bob Miller, worked in the cemetery during the hottest days of one summer to repair damages done by vandals to many headstones in the 1985-86 time period. Bill and Rubylin’s daughter, Staci Johnson, is working on the War of 1812 designation for their ancestor mentioned above. We will be having a special ceremony when that is completed. That proof process is very time consuming.

John Doe #2 was buried last week by Collin County Medical Examiner’s office representatives. He was placed beside the previous two unknowns who were identified recently. Efforts to identify him are ongoing. Charles Smith & Son Funeral Home assisted with the burial and will be providing a headstone.

A monument restoration project was recently completed by Texas Cemetery Restoration. We will post some photos on Facebook we took during the process. A mapping and lot marking project is also underway.

The fence painting project is on hold until Collin County Road and Bridge completes widening the cemetery road. We expect to have this work done at no cost to us by the developers across the road when they paint their own fence. The widening and blacktopping of Throckmorton Road is underway now but should be completed by meeting day.

Please update your snail mail and email address as well as any other changes to your contact info. The cemetery is beautiful and open for visitors as usual. Your donations help keep it looking that way.

Sincerely,

Diane Miller
President, Highland Cemetery Association

05/26/2025

There are over 100 veteran grave monuments at Highland Cemetery, including those who served in the War of 1812, the Civil War, WWI, and WWII. Today we honor those who died while serving.

US Army Private Henry Grady Springfield, from Anna, has a memorial monument, also known as a cenotaph, at Highland Cemetery. His place of burial is unknown. He was killed in action in France during WWI on November 5th, 1918, at the age of 25.

His name is listed on the Tablets of the Missing at Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery and Memorial, Romagne-sous-Montfaucon, Departement de la Meuse, Lorraine, France.

Private Henry Grady Springfield is also honored at the Corporal RD Foster Veterans Memorial Park in McKinney, along with many other Collin County military heroes who died during service.

Other military heroes buried or memorialized at Highland Cemetery who lost their lives during their service: Carl James Estep was entombed on the USS Arizona on December 7, 1941; R Mays Powell died January 11, 1945 in World War II; Francis Roper Luscombe was lost at sea February 16, 1945 during WWII. Carl J. Estep and Francis R. Luscombe's names also appear on the Tablets of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu. All of the above are honored at Corporal RD Foster Memorial Park in McKinney as well.

If you have a loved one buried at Highland Cemetery who lost their lives during their US military service who is not mentioned here, we would love to know about them. We can also connect you with the McKinney Armed Services Memorial Board regarding adding their name to the RD Foster Veterans Memorial Wall.

05/03/2025

Beautiful sunset at Highland Cemetery this evening. 📸 by Diane Miller 💕

11/26/2024

Tribute to William Terry “Rosey” Ashmore, buried at Highland Cemetery

It’s FRIDAY, which means it’s and this week’s release is Rosey’s Raspberry Ale. It is a 5.5% ABV ale with only 17 IBUs. This dark ale is brewed with raspberry puree, whole cocoa nibs, and vanilla beans. This is a complex brew for an important and complex man who we named this beer after.

William Terry “Rosey” Ashmore graduated from Anna High School in 1943. He was married to Ann Jack for 55 years. He played a significant role in Anna’s past.

Rosey was a rural mail carrier for 40 years. He was superintendent of Anna’s City Water/Sewer department. He read meters and fixed leaks. His wife, Ann Jack, made out the water bills and mailed them out. Before 911 and an official fire department in Anna, everyone called Rosey’s number (3333) to report a leak, accident, or water problem.

He served as the Fire Chief for the Anna Volunteer Fire Department for 27 years. More importantly to most people in Anna, he was the voice of Anna Friday night football in Anna from 1955-1987!

Wasn’t that enough? No, he also served on the school board for 9 years, drove a school bus, was on Anna City Council for 9 years, was a Scout Master, Little League Baseball Commissioner, basketball and football referee, and a football coach.

Evidently it was common 100 years ago for boys to receive nicknames. In an interview, Rosey was asked how he got his nickname. He answered that he used to date a girl named Rosey in high school.

Rosey and Ann Jack had three daughters that still live in the area. Sometimes, you can find one of his descendants enjoying a beverage at 3 Nations.

Enjoy live music at 7 pm featuring John Hames!

10/12/2024

10/07/2024

Recently, Highland Cemetery received a special update we are very happy about. The Collin County Medical Examiner's Office has identified a Jane Doe and a John Doe who were buried at Highland Cemetery in 2004 and 2007, respectively.

Lisa Jaqqueline Mellay and Edward Joseph Trepagnier both received updated head stones with their real names and dates of birth and death. We decided it would be best to keep their "Jane Doe" and "John Doe" grave markers as foot stones, as the time they spent unidentified is part of their history now.

NBC5 came out to Highland Cemetery to document the installation of the new headstone for Lisa Mellay and learn about the Medical Examiner's process of discovering her identity.

You can watch the NBC story below.
I also added links to both their Find A Grave entries.

https://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/collin-county-jane-doe-identified-after-20-years/3650584/?_osource=SocialFlowFB_DFWBrand

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/27663785/lisa-jaqqueline-mellay
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/27663733/john-doe

A partnership between the Collin County Medical Examiner’s Office and a forensic lab near Houston aims to reunite families with unidentified bodies.

09/23/2024

Hi All!
We have mailed and emailed the Fall 2024 Highland Cemetery Association letter. If you did not receive the letter and you would like to, let us know and we will put you on the mailing list. In light stamps now costing .73 cents (!) ... if you no longer need a mailed letter and prefer an emailed letter, please let us know!

I have also copied the letter below. If you received an emailed letter, depending on what device you read it on, the alignment may appear off. I am working on ways to paste the letter into the body of the email without modifying the format too much. Left aligning everything seems to work a little better in that regard. A pdf of the letter with correct alignment is also attached to the email.

Some of us will be at the cemetery on October 5th (the day before the meeting) picking up trash, cleaning headstones, trimming bushes, answering Find A Grave photo requests, and who knows what else. Come join us if you're free!

See the letter below. Thanks! Lillie

Diane McVey Miller, president/trustee
Jennifer Stephens Evans, vice president/trustee
Patricia Lair Huffman, secretary
Jim Luscombe, treasurer
John Howell, trustee
Lillie Elizabeth Miller, trustee
Glenn “T” Stephens, trustee
Martha Luscombe McDowell, honorary trustee

September 8, 2024

Dear Friends of Highland Cemetery,

The Fall Decoration Day and cemetery association meeting are coming up. We will meet at the cemetery Sunday, October 6, 2024, 2 pm weather permitting. Due to the recent loss of the beautiful old ash tree (storm damage) where we normally meet, we will set up near the east entrance to the cemetery. If weather is questionable, we will meet at 4500 Highland Road. The driveway is just south of the cemetery road.

While someone may be working at the cemetery October 5 & 6, there may not be anyone to officially greet you until near meeting time Sunday. Donations are always gratefully accepted via snail mail to keep the cemetery looking beautiful and help with various projects. We have an active Venmo account now so we can accept donations electronically also. Please contact me for details.

We recently had a nice donation in memory of Meredith Walden.
We also received another nice donation to help with removal of the damaged tree. A couple of headstones were damaged when the tree fell and they will be repaired as soon as possible. We are accepting estimates from a couple of folks who specialize in historic cemetery preservation.

Regarding the list in the last letter, we are still in the process of receiving estimates on various pending projects: marking corners of lots, interior road repairs, headstone repair, entrance sign update.
Another project we are addressing is reclaiming the west side of the cemetery (the “lane”area) from erosion. Several estimates are pending. Getting knowledgeable workers to take on “small” jobs has been a challenge.

I am still patiently waiting on those family stories I requested last time…. Good, bad and ugly! Here's why: The Melissa Public Library asked the Melissa Historical Society, of which Lillie is founder and president, to participate in an historic cemetery walk. She asked if Highland could partner with MHS and the library to make that happen. On the evening of October 11, 2024, 5:30pm, there will be a guided cemetery walk at Highland. Anyone interested in participating, please contact us, or if you want to, just attend and learn about who is buried here. It's not too late to offer your family’s stories. Former Highland board member, Bart Morgan will be telling about Horace “Kewpie” Morgan, a star of silent movies, buried at Highland. Others who will be featured are the founder of the Highland community and cemetery, several veterans who are buried elsewhere but have memorial stones at Highland, the family of a Mantua Seminary trustee and teacher, Melissa City Council member and more.


In the last letter, I listed the burial of Adanna Rose Escoto Sherley at Highland. I made a couple errors with her name. Please note this correction.

The cemetery has again been active since the last letter. We have had the following burials:

Elizabeth Jean Gibson Jernigan 22 Feb 1926 - 1 April 2024
Randall Glenn Harris 29 May, 1959 - 31 July 2018
Eduardo Xavier Chacon 24 June 2000 - 28 April 2024
Richard Leon Sampson 20 June 1947 - 29 April 2024
Yetunde Bolanle Ogunderu 20 June 1960 - 11 June 2024
James Richard MacDougall 28 September 1932 - 26 June 2024
Grace Nell Milam Hill 18 July 1936 - 16 July 2024

Please update your snail mail and email addresses. The post office only forwards for a year. You can follow us on Facebook: Highland Cemetery - Melissa tx.

The cemetery is open and beautiful. I plan to plant more daffodils asap. They were donated to us by Bryan Zumbar, a daffodil professional and bee keeper who has won numerous awards on both his daffodils and his local honey. Bryan is a neighbor to the cemetery.

Sincerely,

Diane Miller
Snail mail: PO Box 126, Melissa, TX 75454
email: ParrisHill47@gmail.com
Cell: 972-569-7982

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