By Shannon McFarlin WENK/WTPR News Director
Paris, Tenn.—Work has begun on restoring and repairing broken headstones in the historic Paris City Cemetery and one of the early civic leaders in Paris already is sporting a newly-restored monument.
Money was raised for the restoration of headstones in June at the Walking Tour of the cemetery that was sponsored by the Henry County Cemetery Committee.
Susan Stewart of the Cemetery Committee said Brent and Marty Brauer of Greenfield have been repairing the stones while Cemetery Committee members have been working hard cleaning them. “We just do it when we can, whenever we have time,” Stewart said.
The grave marker of the late John T. Irion is the first to be fully restored, she said. His stone was cleaned, repaired, re-set, and now has been replaced at the head of the Irion family plot at the back of the cemetery. The Irion family paid for the restoration of his monument, Stewart said.
Irion wore many hats: he was a medical doctor, an early editor of The Post-Intelligencer, was the highest-ranking Mason in the state of Tennessee, and was a long-time and active president of the Paris Board of Health.
Cemetery Committee Chairperson Stephanie Tayloe said, “We’ll be having a little service in the fall to commemorate John T. Irion’s restored monument. Family members and the Masons will be there.”
Stewart said nine different headstones are currently being restored. “We could do so much more if we could get people to make donations. If family members want us to work on specific headstones, we will do that.”
She said the local kin of former Congressman John Crockett, whose family is buried at the city cemetery, is meeting to discuss restoration of the Crockett stones.
Anyone who wants to donate to the project can call Tayloe at the Henry County Archives office at 644-3638 or Stewart at 336-9764.
Photos: Top, John T. Irion’s restored monument; bottom, work in progress on headstones. (Photos by Shannon McFarlin).
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