© The Chickasha Express-Star
Chickasha, Oklahoma
April 14, 2011
Entryway structure provided to Verden
By Jeanne Grimes
VERDEN - For as long as Jim Hughes can remember, 4th Street in Verden led to a hilltop cemetery not far south of U.S. 62, with only an opening in the fence to separate the living town from the resting place for its dead.
Now, thanks to Hughes and his brothers, there's a substantial black steel sign spanning the lone road into the cemetery. The entry structure proclaims "Verden Cemetery" and "Est. 1900." It also bears a plaque dedicating the entry to Hughes' parents, Vivian Hughes and the late Cecil "Red" Hughes.
The Hughes family roots run deep in Verden and Grady County.
Though Cecil Hughes was born at Sulphur, he came to Verden with his parents about 1925 and never left. Vivian Hughes was born not far from Verden in the Anadarko community.
The couple raised their five children on a dairy farm here. The house is gone now, but a barn remains and can be seen from the cemetery. It was on that farm that Jim Hughes was born.
Cecil Hughes sold the dairy in 1963, but that didn't sever the family's ties to the town. Vivian Hughes opened Vivian's Cafe here in the mid-1960s and it remains in the family to this day, now owned and operated by a daughter, Sandy Wilson. Another daughter, Brenda Henry, is a teacher in Chickasha.
Cecil Hughes died in 1981 and is buried in Verden Cemetery. Mrs. Hughes still lives in Verden.
Jim Hughes is a retired oil and gas drilling contractor and lives at Tuttle, as do his two brothers, Don and Bill.
Welding, Hughes said, "has been my vocation most of my life."
He learned welding in vocational agriculture at Verden High School and for a time worked as a welder on the line at a horse trailer manufacturing plant in Chickasha.
But it was through his travels in the oil and gas industry that he noticed a pride in other places that was slowly disappearing from his hometown.
"There have been so many towns I've traveled to and I could tell they take pride in the town and their homes," he said. "Verden has slipped. I remember when the downtown area was still alive."
So as well as serving as a memorial to his parents, Hughes hopes his handiwork at the cemetery will become a point of community pride for Verden.
He got the idea for the cemetery entrance "two or three years ago," although he didn't touch cutting torch to steel until last December after Verden town officials "told me it would be alright if I wanted to do it."
"My brothers helped me with it," he said, adding that the fabrication work was completed in a shop belonging to one brother.
The structure, which Jim Hughes designed, was constructed in three pieces. These were moved to the cemetery where more welding completed the assembly and the whole structure was cemented in place.
Erecting it took about four hours.
"My brother has a construction company in Amber - H&T Construction - and he brought the equipment to stand it in place," Hughes said.
On Tuesday evening, the Verden City Council presented the Hughes family with certificates of appreciation for the cemetery entryway project.
The recognition was nice, but Hughes stressed public attention isn't the reason he donated his time, skills and materials.
"I hope the people like it," he said. |
