“All our ancestors are buried here. Even our baby brother who died on Christmas Day is buried here,” Glenda Tisby said.
FORT WORTH, Texas — A new effort is underway to find descendants of people buried at Lake Como Cemetery.
Glenda Tisby’s family roots run deep in the Como area. Her siblings, cousins and other family members agreed to meet her at the Lake Como cemetery on Wednesday.
“I called out everyone, but this is not all of us,” Tisby said. “We love Como. We’ve lived in Como all our lives. We bleed Como.”
Como is a historically African-American neighborhood in West Fort Worth. Many of Tisby’s families are buried in Lake Como Cemetery. After years of neglect, the cemetery is undergoing a revival.
“All our ancestors are buried here. Even our baby brother who died on Christmas Day is buried here,” Tisby said.
The Lake Como Cemetery Association gave a few families a sneak peek at the highly anticipated marker that was installed to mark the cemetery’s designation as a historic site.
Dozens of people, young and old, stood at the entrance to the cemetery, watching workers prepare the site for the headstones. Organizers hope to reach out to all descendants.
Keisha Burke serves on the board of directors for the Lake Como Cemetery Association, and she coordinates with families interested in making sure their loved ones’ graves are properly marked.
“We encourage any descendants to contact us, even if they’re out of state,” Burke said.
Some of the gravestones in the cemetery are still intact, but others are toppled, damaged, displaced or missing.
Over the years, the land in the cemetery has shifted and there has been underground movement that has required corrections. Leslie Allaman, whose grandfather donated the land, will help oversee the restoration.
“These grave markers and headstones were buried somewhere around here and were submerged by rainwater,” Alaman said. “You wouldn’t know it was a cemetery because it was overgrown with weeds. There are some brush growing on the edges of the fields, but we have volunteers who come and clear all that away.”
Volunteers include Boy Scout Troop 50, who are helping with landscaping, leveling the lots and erecting wooden frames for the concrete bench flats.
For the family, the restoration and historic designation is a way to preserve their past for future generations, especially since several military veterans are buried at the cemetery.
The Lake Como Cemetery Association hopes to work with other community groups to maintain the cemetery and hopes the new historic landmark designation will spark renewed interest among descendants in the Fort Worth area and across the country.
“We’re taking this place back,” Alaman said.
