Sparkman-Hillcrest Memorial Park Cemetery (photo from Facebook)

Sparkman-Hillcrest Memorial Park Cemetery

If you haven’t deduced from all the porch pumpkins and gourds or spiced-latte adverts, it’s October, the month of Halloween, after which the whole holiday season barrels in, like it or not.

By the time all hallows eve arrives, maybe we find ourselves in the mood to slow things down, perhaps wind back the clock, absorb and discuss something other than the bloodbath that is Squid Game (Netflix show everyone’s talking about) but without altogether forgoing spooky death stuff.

To that end, Preservation Dallas, Oct. 30, hosts a tour of Dallas cemeteries that includes the historic Temple Emanu-el Cemetery, only the second-ever Jewish burial grounds in Dallas, and it begins at Hillcrest Mausoleum, the resting place of several local celebrities.

Sparkman-Hillcrest Memorial has served as the final stop for Dallasites since the 1850s.

There is its connection to Clyde Barrow—the old-school outlaw was buried in Oak Cliff not Preston Hollow, however, the Sparkmans helped arrange the funeral, according to the 2011 obituary of Bill Sparkman, grandson of cemetery founder Will Sparkman.

While baseball legend Mickey Mantle sobered himself at the Betty Ford clinic in 1994, he died in 1995 at Baylor University Medical Center after a vicious bout of liver cancer and was buried at Sparkman-Hillcrest.
Makeup maven and businesswoman Mary Kay Ash’s gravesite at Sparkman-Hillcrest often is adorned with flowers in her signature color: pink. And Dallas Cowboys exalted longtime leader Tom Landry has been sleeping there since early 2000.
And H.L. Hunt—erstwhile richest man in the world—lies at the Preston Hollow grounds. Haroldson Lafayette Hunt’s oil empire helped put Dallas on the map. It is generally accepted that the TV show character J.R. Ewing was based on Hunt’s life. His 1974 death sparked dramatic battles over his fortune among his three wives and 15 children.

As for Temple Emanu-el, this cemetery-hopping blog has a fascinating write up.

Also, City of Dallas Municipal Archives recently acquired James’ cemetery files, City archivist John Slate tells us.

Here’s the catch: Register now.

The tour includes a symposium at Hillcrest Mausoleum featuring a discussion highlighting cemetery history and evolution moderated by Slate and a panel that includes cemetery restorer Deborah (also known as “Dr. Graveyard”) Franklin.

After that the tour of resting places hits seven Dallas cemeteries including Freedman’s Memorial Cemetery, Greenwood, Oak Cliff Cemetery, Oakland Cemetery, Temple Emanu-el and Western Heights.

Tickets are $30 for Preservation Dallas members and $40 for the public.

As one of Preservation Dallas’ first in-person tours since the onset of the pandemic, it’s kind of a big deal. Here, details and registration.