Conroe resident Johnny Sexton recently appeared before Navasota City Council, explaining that because of experiences with his extended family in the area, he would like to see a project to restore Oakland Cemetery.
Sexton said after attending funerals at both Oakland and another cemetery close-by, he noted that by comparison, the other one was in pretty good shape, whereas Oakland was in somewhat bad shape.
The veteran and former cop said he thought a good place to start would be teaming local Eagle Scouts with the local VFW to locate and identify the headstones of Oakland’s resident warriors.
Sexton also said he had discovered from the Navasota High School Librarian, the existence of a grant to provide a drone for the photography club to take photographs of the cemetery. He went on to say he thought this would be another good fit to collaborate the high school with the local VFW Post.
Sexton told Council a that successful restoration project would demand cooperation throughout the Navasota Community.
Councilman Josh Fultz then explained that Sexton had come to see Oakland Cemetery in the first place because, as his stepfather, he and had first seen Oakland at the recent funeral of Fultz’ father, former Navasota City Attorney Jon Fultz.
Sexton’s own warrior-father is buried in Houston’s Veteran Memorial Cemetery where there’s a $700,000 annual budget for maintenance and repair.
Admitting to Council we’ll probably never get to that point, Sexton added he does think we can maybe get close.