Sacred Heart Catholic Cemetery
White Deer, Carson County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Surrounded by an iron picket fence with a brick entry, the Sacred Heart Catholic Cemetery is a reminder of those who have come before us. The White Deer Land Company donated five acres of land for a cemetery on March 4, 1913. The deed was recorded in Carson County records on April 25, 1914. The land is sited about a quarter mile north of the historically Polish Sacred Heart Catholic Church. The first to be buried here was the infant son of Mr. and Mrs. E.N. Czerner, who passed on January 28, 1913. It wasn’t until three years later that the parish experienced its first adult death in 1916. Mrs. Jacob Tuleja was the first adult to be buried here. Her white cross is a mute reminder of the young pioneer. Throughout the years, the cemetery was tended to only during days of special remembrance, such as funerals, Memorial Day, and All Souls Day. Father Jerome Hancox was pastor of Sacred Heart parish in 1956 when during a parish meeting it was decided to draw up a constitution and bylaws for the care of the grounds. Trees were planted to beautify the acreage and a stunning crucifix was installed in the center. Father Hancox, per his request, was laid to rest at the feet of Christ. In 1988, the cemetery committee finalized plans for a new fence and entryway. Work officially began in January of 1989, and three months later the task was completed. Among those buried here are veterans from many wars including World War I, World War II, Korea and Vietnam. The only serviceman killed in action was Sgt. Larry A. May in Vietnam. The cemetery is still in use, and parishioners continue to work side by side, just as their ancestors did, to maintain and improve their cemetery.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
The White Deer Land Company donated five acres for this cemetery in 1913, a quarter mile from the town's historically Polish Sacred Heart parish. Its first burial that January was the infant son of the Czerner family, and its white crosses and crucifix mark generations of the Polish Catholic community, including veterans of World War I, World War II, Korea, and Vietnam. Parishioners still tend the grounds side by side, as their ancestors did.
Why it matters
The cemetery is a lasting record of a Polish immigrant community's faith and of the service its sons gave across a century of American wars.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- · Father Jerome Hancox
- · Sgt. Larry A. May
- · Mrs. Jacob Tuleja
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Polish Settlers of White Deer
White Deer, TX
In 1854 some 800 Poles crossed the Atlantic in a single small ship and, unable to speak English, walked two hundred miles from Galveston to found Panna Maria, the oldest permanent Polish settlement in America. Half a century later, drawn by land offers from the White Deer Land Company, their descendants migrated to the Panhandle and, joined by Polish families from other states, built their first Catholic church on this site in 1913.
White Deer Sacred Heart Catholic Church
White Deer, TX
In 1909 Henry Czerner and Ben Urbanczyk, both from the Polish colony of Panna Maria, came north to secure land near White Deer, and by 1913 a dozen Polish families had settled the area. Lacking a church, they prayed in one another's homes until they raised Sacred Heart, completed in May 1913 while women and children worked the fields. The parish weathered oil booms, a 1951 tornado, and the world wars — even reviving its Polish Sausage Festival — before building the present church in 1962.
White Deer Cemetery
White Deer, TX
On the Texas Panhandle plains, where the International & Great Northern Railroad had laid out its survey blocks, a burial ground took shape in the early 1900s—perhaps beginning with a railroad worker killed in an accident around 1905. A cemetery association formed in 1923, buying its five acres for a single dollar, and after years of neglect was revived by local citizens in 1991. Those interred here include early pioneers and veterans of every American war from the Civil War through Vietnam.
Grand Hotel and Grand Hardware Building
Borger, TX
When oil transformed the Texas Panhandle, Borger sprang up as a townsite in 1926, and Greek immigrant brothers Gus and John Yiantsou arrived from St. Louis to open a restaurant. In 1927 Gus erected this building — among the first substantial structures in the roaring boomtown — and by 1929 the brothers were running Grand Hardware and Variety Store below a second-floor hotel. Known for their generosity, the Yiantsous gave freely to local and Greek charities.