--- In CharlieChristian@yahoogroups.com, "Kevin Centlivre" <erviltnec1@...>
wrote:

I sincerely hope that you are right. However, there are other possibilities with
graves in that area that are even larger and there was one huge one nearer to
CC's marker. Romie's is approx 100 yds west of the marker.

I photographed them all when the grass was 1 inch high and all the cement was
visible, but none were identifiable!!

But, as I've said, I hope that you are right.



>
> "After interviewing some of the residents of Bonham we drove back to Oklahoma
City, with plenty of new questions to ask. Clarence didn't hesitate to give some
answers. "You didn't find it, did you?" he asked, obviously knowing the answer.
"Charles' grave isn't marked. But I can find it. Our uncle poured a cement slab
over the top of it to keep them from burying anybody on top on him. Space is
pretty filled up in there." He went on to tell us where it was, but I found it
hard to concentrate" - from my own essay "Bonham, Texas"
>
> Craig took notes. He found them several years later. We had discussed going
back to Bonham, but hadn't been there since 1978. Following what was written in
the notes along with ours and other recollections we found a slab with the name
"Christian" on it. Romie may be a cousin, his father the uncle that poured the
slab. It is the closest and most logical location anyone has yet to assert as
the resting place of Charles Christian.
> Gates Hill has changed much in the last 30 years. It is larger and better
kept. The roads down the middle and to the west were not there in 1978. The
fences and gate have been removed. It still has a number of vandalized
headstones and crude, unreadable markers. We had about a foot of overgrowth in
most places we searched. The section to the east of the hill was not there in
1978 as well.
> What was there was what Clarence Christian described 31 years ago, a slab made
by a relative, being "way down." Another reliable witness recalls the site
being way down the hill and that the pall bearers had a long walk from the
hearse. Clarence stated he could "walk right to it." When Romie's headstone
was intact it would have been very easy to find. It still is. There is nothing
in Gates Hill that even comes close to it. It implies someone very important is
buried there.
> Had we walked down the hill in 1978, which we didn't do because you couldn't
see anything in the distance for the weeds, we would have found it, too.
>
> That is the most you will get from me.
>
> --- In CharlieChristian@yahoogroups.com, "Kevin Centlivre" <erviltnec1@>
wrote:
> >
> > Romie Christian died in 1950 from a drowning accident at age 39. He was a
World War II veteran of the U.S. Army. His headstone was broken in two places,
most likely the work of vandals who have done much damage at Gates Hill. A U.S.
Army veteran myself, I feel this was one of the most respectful visits Romie and
his family have had in many years.
> >
>