The Many Hands That Keep Lubbock as One of the Most Beautiful Cemeteries in Texas
The work that keeps Lubbock Cemetery alive
The work that keeps Lubbock Cemetery alive
For many people, cemeteries are a place they lay their loved ones to rest. They may visit them from time to time, but the cemetery is always there, with new burials needing to be arranged and grounds to be maintained.
The City of Lubbock Cemetery is municipally run as part of the Parks and Recreation Department.
Before the city took over in 1948, the land was made up of multiple different cemeteries and the grounds were separated by race, religion, and economic status. On paper, the cemetery was integrated after the Civil Rights Act in 1964, but de facto segregation continued for years. The city cemetery has faced lawsuits as recently as the early 2000s over alleged neglect in its record-keeping of Black and Latino burial sites.
Helen Washington, the operations manager, has been with the cemetery since 2011. She came into cemetery work from the municipal side. She was a City of Lubbock employee for several years, but her department was being dissolved.
“I had started trying to look for something else, and there was a job here at the cemetery, which I didn’t even notice because I wasn’t looking to work at the cemetery,” she laughed.
She said working at the cemetery took some adjustment, and some people still don’t understand how…