Mark your calendars…Robert E. Howard Days are coming. That happens in Cross Plains (http://www.howarddays.com), but since Robert E. Howard is buried at Brownwood’s Historic Greenleaf Cemetery, we are having a celebration of our own.
Stop by Greenleaf on Saturday, June 9, between 8 AM and 1 PM to shop our Yard Sale. There will be all kinds of treasures to be found, including a kid’s swing set and an organ.
During the Ho
ward Days weekend, Greenleaf Cemetery will start our Coffee Club fundraiser. With a donation of $50 or more, you will receive a beautiful Greenleaf Cemetery coffee cup, a cup of hot or iced coffee, and a bag of delicious Greenleaf Blend coffee. Greenleaf still has debts to pay off to put us back “in the black,” so all donations are welcome and appreciated. This is a great way to give a needed donation, and at the same time get a lovely memento of the historic cemetery.
On Saturday, from 9 AM to 5PM, box lunches will be available in front of the office. Steves’ Market & Deli, along with Ben E. Keith Foods, will furnish the lunches, which will include a pimiento cheese sandwich, chips, soda or water, and a cookie. Each lunch is only $5, so it’s a great value. 100% of the proceeds will go toward paying off the bank note, so please stop by and buy lunches for family and friends.
Even if you haven’t heard of Robert E. Howard, you are probably familiar with one of his creations, Conan the Barbarian. Howard became very well known for his stories, which were published in pulp ficti
on magazines and newspapers in the 1920s and 1930s. In addition to Sword and Sorcery type stories, he also wrote other genres, including westerns, boxing stories, and poetry.
Howard was born January 22, 1906, and lived much of his life in Cross Plains. He went to Brownwood High School his senior year and graduated in 1923. He moved back to Cross Plains, only to return the next year to attend Howard Payne College, taking a course on stenography. Speculation says that he might have wanted to take writing courses, but his father refused to pay.
From childhood, Howard wanted to be a writer. By the age of 23, he was becoming successful. He continued to publish stories in an assortment of magazines and newspapers until his death. Compilations of his stories are still available in print, and in Kindle editions.
Howard’s mother had suffered from tuberculosis for many years. His mother’s health became worse, until she finally fell into a coma.
In the weeks before he died, Howard wrote his agent, giving him instructions on what to do if he were to die. He wrote his will. Howard borrowed a .380 Colt automatic from a friend. On June 10, he drove to Brownwood and bought burial plots for his family at Greenleaf Cemetery.
On June 11, Howard asked his mother’s nurse whether she would ever regain consciousness. The nurse told him she would not. Howard walked out to his car, retrieved the gun from the glove box, and shot himself in the head. He died eight hours later and his mother passed the next day.
A suicide note was found in his typewriter, “All fled, all done, so lift me on the pyre; The feast is over and the lamps expire.” This was taken from a poem by Viola Garvin.
Robert E. Howard and his parents are buried together at Greenleaf Cemetery, with a state historical marker on their plot.
It’s quite a story, but it’s only one of many at Greenleaf. Stop by this weekend, and soak in a little local history, eat lunch, shop the yard sale, and join the Greenleaf Coffee Club.