Rufus D. Fry - I.O.O.F. Cemetery - Denton, TX, USA
N 33° 12.511 W 097° 08.377
14S E 673391 N 3675944
A Dove of Peace bearing an olive branch can be seen in the Woodmen of the World emblem on the monument marking the final resting place of Rufus D. Fry in historic I.O.O.F. Cemetery, Denton, TX.
Waymark Code: WM12C87
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 04/25/2020
Views: 1
The Woodmen of the World are known today as WoodmenLife, a fraternal society that provides insurance to its members. Visitors to older cemeteries can frequently spot the tree trunk monuments that they placed at the graves of their members, although not every tree trunk monument out there was placed by the Woodmen of the World: It was common in the late 19th century to use a log to note that a person had died young, and many infants have such grave markers. Eventually, those tree trunk monuments became too expensive to produce, and headstones would be marked with a Woodmen of the World emblem of some kind. Earlier ones, like this one, featured a dove of peace with an olive branch in its beak, flying over a fallen log where the tools of the woodmen's trade -- hatchet, mallet, and wedge -- can be seen, and it wasn't uncommon to see "Erected by the Woodmen of the World" around the inscription. Later ones would show a simple tree stump instead.
Rufus D. Fry was the grandson of Lewis Fry, who gave his name to the celebrated Fry Street just northwest of here in Denton. Lewis himself is buried in Oakwood Cemetery, also in Denton. Rufus's uncle, Thomas Temple Fry, is buried not far from here in Old Alton Cemetery, and is the subject of his own waymark.
The base of Mr. Fry's marble monument was sculpted to resemble a neatly-arranged pile of stones, with the family name, "Fry", in relief with a rustic theme. Ivy is beginning to creep up on the name, and there is a large palm leaf at the top of the monument. A small part of the leaf covers the upper corner of the inscription scroll, which reads:
Rufus D. Fry
Born
Apr. 24, 1874
Died
Feb. 24, 1898.