Blog

Pamela Dixon's blog topics on YourHub.com span the globe, from Australian Open tennis to her love for her dog Clyde - to what's for dinner.

Here is part of the introduction she wrote for readers of her YourHub blog:

... This blog has lots of interesting thoughts and incidental happenings. Your comments are solicited and welcome.

Dixon is eager to interact with other bloggers on YourHub - even about frivolous topics.

"I like to talk," Dixon said. "Some of the blogs are more like political commentary. I like a wide variety of things. (But) if I want something real heavy, I'll read the editorial page. I'd like to see people commenting."

Several of her blogs are light-hearted, including one about Clyde's eating habits, and a brief one reminiscent of Grandpa Jones reciting a list of yummy food on the supper menu on "Hee Haw."

One of Dixon's blogs carries considerably greater meaning. It involves respecting those who have left this world, and remembering their part in history.

In a Sept. 3 Times Record News story, Judith McGinnis reported that Dixon was among those helping clean up and protect a cemetery that has been the final resting place for dozens of black and poor residents over the years.

Providence Baptist, Burkburnett's only black church, is sponsoring a project aimed at getting the Texas Historical Commission to designate Journey's End Cemetery as a Texas Historical Cemetery. Dixon said the cemetery, near the church building in northwest Burkburnett, was originally called Colored Folks Cemetery.

She is trying to do her part as secretary of the Journey's End Cemetery Committee. Her father, Howard Locklin, serves as chairman.

"(Journey's End) belongs to the residents in the area," said Dixon, a lifelong Burkburnett resident. "The people were buried there during segregation, and it turned into a hardship cemetery."

Dixon recently said she was set to mail the committee's second submission containing documentation required to secure the historical designation. The first submission needed a minor change, Dixon said, noting that she is optimistic it will be approved.

The commission can take up to 60 days to respond. A positive response would allow for a state marker at the site, and it would be documented as a Historic Texas Cemetery in libraries throughout the state.

"There are 60 individuals we can prove are buried there, through burial and death certificates," she said. "Through word of mouth, we think there are over 200. There are World War II vets, Korean War vets, and we've even got one from World War I. My father has a brother (John Hildred) there who was a Korean War vet."

Dixon said she thinks it's important to preserve the memory of those buried there, especially for younger people she knows at Providence Baptist.

"It has a lot of meaning because the young people at church don't know anything about (local) history," Dixon said. "Those people (buried) have families. I have a sense of history. To provide that sense of history, that's what I want to do."

Dixon's blog updating the committee's effort includes contact information for those interested in contributing to the cause either financially or with additional work that needs to be done at the site. If you'd like to help, write to: Howard Locklin, P.O. Box 427, Burkburnett, TX 76354. Dixon also wrote in her blog that she may be reached to discuss the topic via e-mail. Log on to YourHub.com under Wichita Falls blogs, and a link to Dixon's e-mail can be found at the top of her Feb. 16 blog titled "Cemetery project update."