Monday, August 1, 2022

May Scavenger Hunt: Find the grave of someone who passed away in May.

 For this prompt -- I'll be introducing you to Vandelia (Gibson) Schultz, my 1st cousin 4x removed.




Vandelia "Vannie" Gibson was born on September 28th, 1888, in Henderson County, KY, to parents Robert Benjamin Gibson and Susan A "Sudia" Pritchett. Vannie was named for her Aunt, Vandalia Delia "Vannie" (Gibson) Nally -- my 3x Grandmother.

Vannie was one of at least sixteen total children born to her father, Robert. She was one of twelve born to her mother, Sudia.

On January 21st, 1911, in Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky - she married her first cousin, Audrey Kohl Gibson. They promptly moved to Indianapolis, Marion County, Indiana.

They divorced sometime in the mid-1920's because Audrey re-married in 1928. Audrey and Vannie never had children together.

On May 21st, 1935, Vannie re-married in Henderson, Kentucky, to Robert Charles Schultz, a native of Warrick County, Indiana. He would die just a few years later in 1939.

Vannie never married again after her second husbands' death, and although they had no children together, she kept the Schultz last name.

She passed away on May 17th, 1976 in Evansville of a myocardial infarction due to arteriosclerotic cardiovascular disease. (It runs in the family, trust me.)

Vandelia survived all of her siblings, so at the time of her death, her obituary states "there are no immediate survivors." She did have numerous amounts of nieces, nephews, and cousins - way too many to list in an obituary.

She was buried in the Gibson Cemetery and unfortunately -- she has no tombstone. The best idea I have as to where she'd be buried is somewhere near her parents tombstone. She has at least six or so siblings that are in the Gibson Cemetery with her.

One of Vandelia's siblings, James Morris Gibson, just got his tombstone in the cemetery in the last month. A grandson had contacted me a handful of years back and asked if I would look around for a tombstone... and I couldn't locate one.

A granddaughter reached out to me last summer and asked for the proper avenues to go through in putting her Grandfather a tombstone in the cemetery and where at would they place it/how could they locate the exact burial location. She went through many hoops - trying to contact the funeral home his funeral was through in 1970, etc. As of May 2022, he finally has a stone placed, I believe, behind his parents tombstone.

I hope someday that Vannie Schultz will have a tombstone but with having no descendants, it's not something I can realistically see happening. There's also NO actual burial records for the Gibson Cemetery. The most comprehensive list of burials in the cemetery is on my blog here, just look for the one titled "At the Cemetery." 

There are no maps and no actual burial/plot records for the family cemetery. There is plenty of room, to my understanding, for more graves. If you're a Joel Gibson descendant - you have every right to be buried there. The newest burial in the cemetery was in 2009 when Otis' widow, Mary Katherine, passed away.

The last time I was at the cemetery which was September of 2019, at Otis and Mary's grave, I noticed a small plaque for their son, David, who passed away in 2017. I believe he was buried in Texas. I'm going to guess one of his sisters (Pamela or Ginger) placed it there for a spot of memorial closer to home. Pamela ended up passing in 2019, and Ginger in 2021. I believe they were both cremated, so it's entirely possible their ashes may reside in the Gibson Cemetery now. If anyone knows for sure, let me know, and I'll get them documented properly onto Find-a-Grave. 

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