Jim Hume donated an acre or so of land a couple miles west of Basin for use as the Wyoming Patriot Cemetery. Dave Dawson and Jackie Paine are the trustees. It has been surveyed and platted. Now the trustees need to publicize it.
The photographs below were taken at the dedication ceremony on June 12, 1999 or at the picnic lunch at the Basin park just before the ceremony.
The Big Horn mountains, as seen from the Wyoming Patriot Cemetery looking across Basin.
Dave Dawson presents the cake to the diners, as an unidentified friend of Clan Durney prepares hamburgers and other picnic fare.
Jim Hume, left, and Dave Dawson at the picnic lunch before the dedication.
Margaret Dawson renders Taps.
Photography by various folks. Credit to Margaret Dawson for remembering to bring the camera. Image manipulated with 
.
Unfortunately your webmaster is terrible at remembering names. He will appreciate any assistance at adding names for proper credit (or blame… :-) you can give. Meanwhile, he apologizes in advance for incorrect attributions.
Jim Hume, who gave the land for the Wyoming Patriot Cemetery, died Sunday, Sept 5, 1999. The funeral was held on September 9th, at 10:00 (Wyoming time) in a movingly anarchic ceremony. The weather was searingly beautiful, with no clouds except a few to highlight the Pryor and Big Horn mountains to the north and east of the Wyoming Patriot Cemetery. The ceremony was made up as we went along, with elements of Christian and American Indian ceremonies. Dress was informal — everything from T-shirts and dungarees to coat and tie.
Dave Dawson officiated, and encouraged people to participate. He asked people to say something about Jim, and they did. Some of Jim's favorite songs were played. One wasn't, but someone was able to remember the gist of it, something about wild women and whiskey, and red heads and blonds and brunettes. Just thinking about that make me prefer Robert Heinlein's theology all the more.
You always learn something about the deceased at a funeral, and one of the things I learned about Jim is that he was a man to plan ahead. Dying of cancer, he built his own casket and planned the ceremony. The casket was plain wood, with a shellac finish, solid competent carpentry. There is a door handle on the outside, which lead to speculation as to whether there is one on the inside as well. I figure Jim put that door handle on the outside because he knew darn well it would give rise to that speculation.
Dave Dawson read these words over the grave:
"He who walks righteously and speaks what is right, who rejects gain from extortion and keeps his hand from accepting bribes, who stops his ears against plots of murder and shuts his eyes against contemplating evil-- This is the man who will dwell on the heights, whose refuge will be the mountain fortress. His bread will be supplied, and water will not fail him. Your eyes will see the king in his beauty and view a land that stretches afar."
Isaiah 33.15-17
Well done.
Minutes of the board of the Wyoming Patriot Cemetery are available in PDF format below.
Get the Adobe Acrobat reader for PDF files.
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Last modified: Mon Mar 17 16:54:49 MDT 2008
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