| Sources |
- [S80] Rawlings Funeral Home, (http://www.rawlingsfuneralhome.com/), 29 Jun 2003.
Louise M. Shults obituary
- [S80] Rawlings Funeral Home, (http://www.rawlingsfuneralhome.com/), 20 Oct 2006.
Lue Crettie Teaster obituary
- [S23] Atchley Funeral Home, (http://www.atchleyfuneralhome.com/), 22 Nov 2007.
John Audley Thompson obituary
- [S106] The Mountain Press, 29 May 2010.
Decoration Day: Tradition remains strong at Walden’s Creek Baptist, other churches in Sevier
The Walden’s Creek Missionary Baptist Church Cemetery. (Photos by Curt Habraken/The Mountain Press) Kathleen Drinnan, left, and Julia Thompson talk about the traditions they grew up with about decoration of the cemetery.
By ELLEN BROWN
It’s a warm, sunny day when Walden’s Creek Missionary Baptist Church members Julia Thompson and Kathleen Drinnen visit Walden’s Creek Cemetery, surveying the fresh flowers and other decorations brought in honor of the upcoming Memorial Day.
“Decoration Day” has long been a tradition for the ladies’ church — in fact, neither can remember a time when it wasn’t part of their lives.
“I remember our parents getting ready for it,” Thompson said. “They would make decorations with crepe paper.”
“They appointed someone every year to make sure everyone (in the cemetery) had a flower and a flag,” added Drinnen.
Drinnen, who grew up in a holler near the cemetery, had five siblings. Thompson, another native of the area, had 10 brothers and sisters.
“My husband, who passed away two years ago, is buried in this cemetery,” Thompson said. “I also have my parents, two brothers, a little sister and a nephew here. The rest of my family comes back to visit.”
One of Thompson’s brothers was killed when he was returning home from the military on July 4, 1952. The driver of another vehicle had fallen asleep at the wheel, crashing into the young man’s car on Asheville Highway.
Drinnen’s grandparents and uncle are buried here. She looks around and notes that her father and Thompson’s father built the cemetery’s stone wall.
“This was a small, tight-knit community. Decoration Day became a tradition because people wanted to come back to visit the loved ones they had buried here,” she said. “There’s a strong attachment. And even though my parents are buried somewhere else, I feel their presence here — the church was such a big part of who they were. The roots go deep.”
Decoration Day is always the fourth Sunday in May for Walden’s Creek Missionary Baptist Church, and it’s also celebrated as Homecoming.
Various other churches and cemeteries in Sevier County participate in Decoration Day festivities, such as Mattox Cemetery in Wears Valley, Caton’s Chapel Cemetery and Old Red Bank Cemetery.
“At Laurel Grove, they used to have it every Mothers Day,” Thompson recalled. “If your mother was alive, you’d wear a red flower. If she was dead, you would wear a white flower.”
Decoration Day was “always a special day for us kids,” she added.
“We had lunch on the grounds, and it was a real happy time for everybody,” Thompson said. “The people you grew up with and went to church with accept you as you are. You’ll never know anybody else as well.”
“You brought a covered dish to share, and everyone had a fun tale to tell,” Drinnen said.
She looks below the cemetery at a piece of land occupied by shrubs and trees.
“There used to be a little school there that we went to, but it burned several years ago. It was a one-room schoolhouse, and I would sit and listen to the other classes (that took place before and after my class). I was always curious — I was born that way. But you learned! You had to learn.”
The ladies exchange smiles.
“There’s a lot of stories in these old hills,” Drinnen said. “As long as people come back, (Decoration Day) will continue.”
“We’ll always come back to honor our loved ones who died,” Thompson added.
ebrown@themountainpress.com
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1940 - (84 years)
, d. 29 Jun 1987 (Age 82 years) 
