The Pioneer and Military Memorial Park was the lively scene of the third Historical Walk in Phoenix’s Early Cemeteries on Sunday March 28, 2010. Tour guests eagerly lined up at the cemetery gate in anticipation for the event to begin. Seven cemeteries make up the eleven acre complex that contain the burial sites of many early Phoenix pioneers who helped form the way of life in the state of Arizona. The site was used until 1914 and many old tombstones still dot the aged graveyard.

The Historic Cemetery Walk tours are sponsored by volunteers from the Pioneers’ Cemetery Association. Debe Branning organizes and heads up the tour program. Eight dearly departed gravesites are selected, researched, and showcased on each historic tour. Volunteer actors receive a researched, scripted biography of one of the pioneers buried in the cemetery. They add their own research, props and personality which make the cemetery tour an event the entire family can enjoy.

Some of the dearly departed Phoenicians honored in the March 2010 cemetery walk were:

Norma Jackson Helm: The southern bell from Georgia was a social favorite who visited the AZ Territory in 1889 and married Dr. Scott Helm.

                                              
Fannie E Linville: This pioneer woman from TX lost her first husband in the Rio Grand River and found a new beginning in the AZ Territory as wife to the owner of Phoenix Hay and Grain Company.
                                               
Frank B Moss: Coming from WI, he learned the blacksmith trade from his father. He later became a wagon maker, fire chief and Phoenix mayor.
                                                         
Henry Garfias: Born in CA, he arrived in Phoenix in 1874. He was a respected peace officer, deputy sheriff, and known as the fastest gun in the Territory.
                                                
Sophia A Wilky: Originally from Germany, her family first settled in Illinois. After she married the farmhand down the road, they headed west to Phoenix in 1884 to till the soil of the Salt River Valley.
                                               
James G Henshaw: Born in NY, this Phoenix pioneer served as a bugler during the battle of the Civil War.
                                               
Margaret Ann Roby Loring: This fine young woman arrived from NH and was the first librarian of the Phoenix Library. 
                                                
Benjamin J Franklin: A descendent of the earlier Benjamin Franklin, he was named Arizona’s 12th Territorial Governor in 1896. 
                                                          

“I personally want to thank the cast and crew of the March 2010 Historic Cemetery Walk for making the event a huge success. I also wish to thank the volunteers of the PCA who came out to the event and helped with tours or wherever needed.

We will be back again in October 2010, and I will again be your hostess for the Historic Cemetery Walk tour!” Debe Branning—coordinator

Check their website for upcoming open house and Memorial Day events

Pioneer & Military Memorial Park
14th Avenue and Jefferson Street
Phoenix, AZ 85007

For information:
www.azhistcemeteries.org  

602-534-1262
pioneercem@yahoo.com  

For more info: www.mvdghostchasers.com  
Debe Branning nazanaza@aol.com