Angel miracle

Doug White

There I was, enjoying the summer Texas heat wave and the phone call came in from Byrl Cromwell III, his question was, "Doug, have you seen it yet?" I knew that this concerned the Pipe Creek Cemetery, because Byrl is our grounds keeper. (And I might add, he and his crew do a wonderful job!)

Anyhow, the first thing that came into my mind was vandalism. However, it turned out to be a large oak limb that broke and dropped to the ground, barely missing a tombstone. I told Byrl that I would be there in a few minutes to check it out.

I jumped on my Harley Sportster and headed to the cemetery. To my surprise, that broken limb had caused quite a mess.

I noticed a tombstone under all the tree limb branches. At first glance, it looked like the tombstone took a direct hit from the huge limb. At closer observation, I noticed that the tree limb did not hit the tombstone. To my surprise a small ceramic angel sitting atop a pedestal was still standing untouched as well. All the debris was near but not on that tombstone.

In all my 22 years as a trustee of the Pipe Creek Cemetery I have seen some pretty interesting things happen there, however, this was the second time that I have seen a tree limb from this same huge oak tree miss a grave marker. Pretty awesome. It is remarkable that the limb missed the tombstone, and even more so that it didn't upset the ceramic angel.

Being a trustee of the Pipe Creek Cemetery is indeed an honor. When something like this happens and there is no damage to any grave marker, I take it as a sign that there are some super protecting forces in that wonderful old cemetery!

I told Byrl that if it had been my grave, that tree limb would have most likely pulverized my marker!

I hope you enjoyed this week's story.