2022 Annual Haynes Creek Cemetery Newsletter
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"Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints." Psalms 116:15
COMMENTS FROM NEW PRESIDENT, PASTOR JEFF MORGAN
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In the short time that I’ve been president of the Cemetery Committee, I’ve learned a couple of hard things about cemeteries.
For one thing, I’ve seen that cemeteries are pretty hard to maintain. The Haynes Creek property is about eight acres of land, most of which is the cemetery; and nature’s forces are relentless in their efforts to turn the whole place back into a wilderness. No sooner is the grass cut than it begins to grow high again. Weeds of every kind somehow find their way into every crack and crevice and poke their ugly heads out everywhere. With every passing storm in the area, high winds scatter leaves and branches from the overhanging oak trees all over the property; and every new rainfall makes its own contribution to the stains on the granite monuments. The work of the Cemetery Committee and its supporting families is to oppose this tendency toward chaos and maintain the ordered beauty of the Haynes Creek Cemetery , and we’ve been at it since 1947. As a newcomer to this effort, I must say of those who have gone before me, theirs is a remarkable achievement! Add to this constant groundskeeping the administrative tasks of paying bills, maintaining up-to-date records, and promoting the cause of the cemetery in the community, and you’ll begin to appreciate what I’m just now beginning to realize: it’s a lot of hard work to maintain a cemetery like ours, and it takes a lot of committed, hardworking people to get it done!
But the other thing I’ve come to appreciate about cemeteries is that they’re hard to move. It’s an obvious point, but I don’t know that I’ve ever really considered it before: How do you move a cemetery? If it’s even possible, it can’t be easy! That’s why, in spite of all the sweeping changes in Loganville recently, the old Haynes Creek Cemetery still sits right where it has sat off Rosebud Road for over two hundred years; and there it will likely be sitting still for a long, long time to come. It’s hard to move a cemetery! And that, it seems to me, is a desirable quality in a memorial. To scatter the ashes of the departed to the wind has its appeal, but we often find that what is out of sight is soon out of mind, too.
Our old cemetery, however, for all the trouble of maintaining it, is a stubborn, lasting, public monument, not only to our beloved friends and family, but also to the great God whom they trusted in life and death. Walk among the gravestones of our cemetery and you will find a thousand Christian symbols and inscriptions, all testifying to the faith of those people whose bodies were laid to rest there. With two Christian congregations now meeting in the old church building, the lights of our Gospel hope are still on every Sunday at Haynes Creek, and children are still spilling out of our services to run and play in the yards outside, as a testimony to passers-by on Rosebud Road that the faith of our fathers in Loganville lives on in the lives of their children and grandchildren.
Change is unsettling, I know; but not everything changes. Remember that. Some things are impossible to move. Among the many glorious names by which the God of the Bible is called are "Everlasting Father” and “The Rock”. For over two thousand years now, this eternal and immoveable God has comforted those who trust in Him for their salvation with these words from Isaiah 54:10: “Though the mountains may be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed, says the LORD who has compassion on you.” So let us all look out over Haynes Creek Cemetery and remember: for all the unsettling change in the world, there is One who does not change—our Lord Jesus Christ—whose unfailing love for and determination to save His people from their sins is what it has always been and always will be.
I, for one, do not mind hard work, especially in the service of a worthy cause, and I do think it is well worth our efforts to preserve Haynes Creek Cemetery as a lasting memorial to dear people and great truths worth remembering. May God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit bless each and every one of you in the days of your earthly pilgrimage; and as always, thank you so much for your support and prayers.
Jeff Morgan
NEW CHURCH
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We as a committee are so thankful and proud of the new church led by our chairman, Pastor Jeff Morgan. They as a congregation have done much improvements on the building by replacing the old pews, adding air conditioning to the building, new light fixtures, painting and a new roof, plus removing old carpet, sanding and refinishing the wood floors. It is simply beautiful. But most importantly, they are continuing a ministry there that will help people find Jesus as Savior and grow in their faith and love for Him and others.
Thank you church for allowing our LORD to use you now and in the years to come. May He continue using and leading you.
GRAVE SITES
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The committee still has a few sites for sale. Please call Chris Rutledge for more information at 770-861-2528. Also, Mrs.
Beverley Cooper has two sites for sale. Please call Larry Rutledge 770-883-5325 for more information and her number. If you or your family have grave sites that you have no plans of using, please consider donating them back to the committee and we can sell them and use the money for maintenance and improvements on the cemetery.
CEMETERY COMMITTEE
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Founded in 1947. All Voluntary. We are so thankful that God led people back in 1947 to form a Cemetery Committee to take care of the cemetery and the memories it holds. It has done a great job for 75 years. Pastor Jeff Morgan is now our new chairman. The committee asked Jeff to do this work. Adam Webb resigned after leading the committee for 2 years and we thank you Adam for your leadership. Jeff is married and has four children. He is pastor of Haynes Creek Presbyterian church, a veterinarian, and now the chairman of this committee. Thank you, Brother Jeff for taking on this work as our chairman.
Pastor Jeff Morgan – Chairman – 770-639-6743
Chloe Rutledge – Vice Chairman -770-922-1589
Chris Rutledge – Management of Grave Placement and Sales – 770-861-2528
Rickey Brooks – Treasurer – 770-466-4443
Janice Rutledge – Secretary – 770-364-7458
Larry Rutledge
Jim Coker
Adam Webb
Caylee Franklin
Shawn Turk
Bobby Basford
Terry Chaffin
Tracy Moon
Tony Wood
Dey Smith
Greg Smith
Nan Wilson, Honorary Member
MEMORIES: BY LARRY RUTLEDGE
While working on the Committee for the last several years, and chairman for over 20 years, I have acquired some memories that are worth sharing with you.
It has been a pleasure working to help preserve the cemetery. You meet some wonderful people and learn some stories as you go. Below as I share, I don’t intend to share all names as it wouldn’t be proper. Although some are ok to share, which I will. Stories I have been told.
The cemetery was started in 1826 with the first burial being Polly Rutledge, who we think was buried just behind the church in 1826. I understand Mr. Wylie Webb, at one time, I think owned the 2nd largest plantation in Gwinnett County until the Union Army came through during the Civil War and destroyed much of his crop and no telling what else as he and his people were in hiding to save their lives. He was so distraught about it that he killed himself.
I heard of a sharecropper who was so upset at his landlord that he killed him. The sharecropper is buried here.
Years back people would heat water in large steel pots for washing clothes, killing and dressing hogs, beef cattle and other things as there was not running water as we have today. During this process a family was heating water and their little toddler fell into it and as a result died.
One twenty-five year old Korean veteran was fishing along with 2 other men in a small boat at a local lake near here. They were drinking and his line got hung down deep so he decided he would dive in and unhook his line and his body was not recovered till late the next day.
A man’s grandparents were married for 35 years and decided they couldn’t live together any longer and divorced. The grandson and his family only saw the grandfather a couple times a year thinking he got married and moved far away, but he had a great relationship with his grandmother. Years after they both passed away, the grandson talked with his grandfather’s daughter he had by another marriage later. After talking with her he finds that they had lived in the local area all along. After finding this out the grandson was very upset with his grandfather for not being more of a part of his family while growing up.
A man’s family had several lots in his own prospective burial site by his wife that had died earlier. When, I believe, it was a nephew died and was being buried, he was sick and couldn’t be there for the service. Sometime later another family member died and the grave diggers began to dig the grave. After much confusion about who was buried where they found that the burial that took place while he was sick was buried in his place by his wife which even had his name already on the tombstone. We are thankful they were able to catch this mistake that someone in the family had clearly made before his death later.
Mr. and Mrs. Salyer were in the cemetery one day wanting to make arrangements to give a family member their 2 grave sites as they were planning to be buried in another cemetery. As we got everything settled on that, I realized they were on up in age I decided to ask them if they knew where they were going when they died. Mrs. Salyer said she did but didn’t think he did. I began talking with him and he later prayed the sinners’ prayer asking Jesus into his heart to save him. We later became friends and he was baptized in a local church. I thank the LORD Mr. Salyer at the age 90 gave his life to Jesus that day and he was baptized in a local church.
Mr. Gresham was a member of the cemetery committee and I think, chairman at one time. He was a very kind, gentle man and was a vital leader in the work of the cemetery when I joined the committee. Since I joined the committee we have had not only Mr. Gresham but Martha and Marshall Allen, Harold Landress, Mrs. Wade and Dwight McCart pass on. They all did a great job for many years working on the cemetery and we thank them.
Please share your memories of family members and friends buried here as we can use them in newsletters, Memorial Services and maybe someday have tours of the cemetery telling folks of the people buried here. Please send to Larry Rutledge, 43 Boyd Hunter Rd, Hiawassee, GA, 30546 or email, jrutledge125@gmail.com. Thank you ahead for doing this. Larry
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WEB SITE
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Scott Thomas, who is my nephew, and also has several relatives buried here in the cemetery has spent a lot of hours working on the website. We want to say a big thank you Scott for all you have done for the past several years. The company we have been using is no longer in business so Pastor Jeff has another company we can use and we have some new members that can lead that work in the future. The new web address is haynescreekcemetery.net. For viewing future Newsletters they can be found on this website.
COPING
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As we have stated many times before; if you own a grave site we ask you to put coping around it to let us know of your ownership. Because of our limited records of ownership this may be the only way of knowing it belongs to someone. We have determined now throughout the cemetery gravesites available for sale and this coping will help us know what is available.
E-MAIL LIST
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In order to save funds, we would like the option to notify you by e-mail. Please send your e-mail addresses to Janice Rutledge at jrutledge125@gmail.com.
Please talk to your family and encourage them to get on the email list. Please view all info from now on the new website haynescreekcemetery.net.
BEFORE YOU DIG
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You must notify Chris Rutledge, 770-861-2528 before you allow anyone to dig a grave. This way we can better manage the cemetery and helps us to know who is buried and where for our records. Also notify the funeral home that they must take the excess dirt with them because we have no place on the property to put it. In fact, it is so important that if they leave excess dirt they will be charged $1000.00 per incident. So please notify your funeral home of this.
WORK DAY
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We have two workdays each year and they are the 3rd Saturday in April and the Saturday before Thanksgiving at 10:00 a.m. We are usually finished by 1 p.m. We basically tidy up the cemetery, throw away old faded flowers, straighten up vases, etc., and anything else that may come up needing to be done. We hope you can come on out and help; it will be enjoyable working and fellowshipping with others.
CLEANING POLICY
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We as a committee normally do not work inside a family plot but we will do away with old looking flowers, etc. We ask you to please keep your flowers changed out before we have to do it.
MEMORIAL SERVICE
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As of printing of this newsletter our Memorial Service was to be held on October 16, 2022.
BURIALS SINCE OUR LAST NEWSLETTER NOVEMBER 2021
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Larry Stanley Cooper, Sec 4-470, Died 09/17/2021.
Danny Ray White, Sec 4-226, Died 01/20/2022.
Dwynelle Brooks Warren, Sec 3-1031, Died 01/22/2022.
Andrew Glynn Barge, Sec 3-220, Died 07-21-2022.
Rachel Azzielee Claborn, Sec 4-79, Died 07/11/2020.
Lisa Marie Herman, Sec 4-78A, Died 10/03/2020.
We offer condolences and prayers for the families of these loved one.
LAWN MAINTENANCE
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Buddy Barnes, also known as Country Boy Lawn Service has been doing our lawn maintenance at the cemetery for approximately 25 years and as far as I can tell, has done a very good job, and we are so appreciative of his work. He has filled in graves that sunk in, cleaned up leaves in yard after bad wind storms, picked up limbs, trimmed shrubbery and so much more. Thank you, for helping us and your hard work.
Buddy is married to Juanita, who is known to many as Smith. They have a son and daughter and 5 grandchildren. He is retired from the Gwinnett County Parks Service with 25 years of service. After asking him what he wanted me to say about him in the newsletter, he said this “the boy’s elevator doesn’t go very high but he is a good ole boy”. Well Buddy we think your elevator goes all the way to the top and we appreciate you, your friendship and work for all these years.
THANK YOU
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I want to thank the committee for the good job you have done over the past several years in maintaining the cemetery and the memories it holds while at the same time honoring our LORD Jesus Christ. We as a committee want to thank you, family and friends of the cemetery for your prayers and donations to the cemetery and the memories it holds. All donations are tax deductible and it all goes to maintaining the cemetery and the memories it holds. We thank the LORD for all of you and your leadership and help.
Also, we want to thank the Boy Scout Troup 65 of Snellville for the work its Scouts did in our cemetery on August 20, 2022. Scout Vaughn Ordway, working on his Eagle Scout merit madge, headed up the project. Scouts Philip Robinson, Cory Hendrix, Wyatt Sharp and Miles Ingram also participated. They had the tasks of cleaning the bell tower and bench plus the cleaning of the cemetery grounds.
We also thank Scout leaders Micki Pawlowski, Todd Hendrix and Jeremy Shark, Webb and Susan Durrett (grandparents of Vaughn Ordway), Rod Witmer and cemetery committee member Shawn Turk. They all did a wonderful job; the bell tower and bench look like new!
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