Cedarvale  - Bay City Cemetery

Photos courtesy of Faye Cunningham
 

G. Andrew Beauseau

Van Vleck Man Killed By Hitch-Hikers Last Night En Route Arizona – Gustav A. Beauseau

G. A. “Andy” Beauseau of Van Vleck was shot and killed late last night while en route to Arizona for his wife, J. W. Pruitt said today.

Mr. Beauseau is survived by his mother, Mrs. Mary Gibson, and his grandmother, Mrs. Birdie Crist, both of Van Vleck,

Mr. Pruitt was notified by phone today of the shooting and he and Rev. Thomas of the Calvary Baptist Church notified the survivors.

It is understood that Mr. Beauseau picked up two hitch-hiking youths on his way to California from Arizona where he is a salesman. He was on a 3-day leave of absence from work.

The two youths, Mr. Pruitt understood from the phone call from Mr. Beauseau’s employer, after killing him with a rifle rented a tourist court cabin and hid the rifle under their mattress. It is understood that they did not rob the body.

Mr. Beauseau can be remembered by his excellent photography, once winning a prize in the Houston Chronicle Photographic Contest, with a picture of his grandmother reading a Bible by candle light.

Mr. Pruitt said that the two boys are aged 19 and 16 and that they are from Waco, Texas. The phone call Mr. Pruitt received came from Douglas, Arizona. He said that he was notified that the body is now being shipped to Bay City.

Daily Tribune, March 20, 1950

Gustav A. Beauseau To Be Buried Thurs. Cedarvale Cemetery

Funeral services for Gustave Andy Beauseau, 36, will be held Thursday at 3:30 in the afternoon from the Van Vleck church with the Rev. Barney Thames and the Rev. Melvin Marshall officiating.

Andy Beauseau, photographer, was murdered by two teen age hitchhikers Monday while on his way to California from Arizona.

The deceased is survived by his wife, Eileen Beauseau of Los Angeles, California; one daughter, Yvonne Beauseau of San Antonio; one son, Ronald E. Beauseau of Los Angeles, California; his mother, Mrs. Mary Gibson of Van Vleck; one sister, Mrs. Frankie Thomas of Port Arthur; grandmother, Mrs. Birdie Crist of Van Vleck.

Active pallbearers will be Jack Cole, George Brown, J. W. Pruitt, Herbert Bickham, Ray O’Connell and Dan O’Connell.

Interment will be in the Cedarvale Cemetery at Bay City with Taylor Bros. Funeral Home in charge.

Daily Tribune, March 22, 1950

Hitchhiker Demonstrates Slaying of Motorist
Pair Seized At Motel Near Mesa
Fatal Shot Fired When Victim Offered Resistance

Two youths arrested early Monday morning in bed at a motel east of Mesa have confessed the murder of a Los Angeles motorist late Sunday night.

Elbert Gene Riddell, 19 years old demonstrated to Sheriff L. C. Boies how he fired the fatal shot.

Charles Roy Oplie, 16, told the same story, the sheriff said.

The youths gave their residence as Waco, Texas.

They disclosed details of the killing of Gustave A. Beauseau, 36-year-old freelance photographer, 600 yards east of the Circle-R-B Motel. The two spent the night at the motel and for a while watched from a window as officers searched for them.

Riddell and Oplie told the sheriff they gambled away their money in Reno, rented a car ostensibly for a joy ride, but instead set out for Texas.

They said they abandoned the car in Globe and there struck up an acquaintance with Beauseau in a café.

Beauseau then offered to let them ride in his car as far as Phoenix.

Riddell said he confronted Beauseau with a pistol in the desert darkness west of fabled Superstition Mountain and fired the shot when he saw the bright lights of Desert Well Motel, eight miles east of Mesa, mistaking it for a town.

Oplie said he was sitting between the victim and Riddell when the weapon barked.

Riddell calmly demonstrated to officers how he held the death weapon against Beauseau as he commanded him to stop the car.

“I told him to quit fooling around and stop the car,” Riddell said. I fired when the man grabbed Oplie and reached for me as he stopped the car in the middle of the highway.”

“The man was driving 70 miles an hour when I first pulled the gun and he only slowed down when I first ordered him to pull over to the side of the road. He kept saying, ‘I don’t want to get knocked in the head.’”

“We jumped from the car and started to cross the desert after the shot. At first Oplie thought I had shot him in the left arm but later we found he was bruised during the struggle,” Riddell said.

Riddell continued that after the shot was fired an eastbound motorist stopped his car less than 30 feet from where Beauseau lay wounded. He said the motorist then drove around the car in the road.

It was at this point that Beauseau drove his car onto the desert and turned it around before getting back on the highway and into the driveway of Desert Well Motel.

The California man collapsed after telling Marshall Church, motel owner, that he had been shot by two young hitchhikers.

Unaware of it at the time, Church and his wife, Judy, witnessed the tragic events as they watched the headlights of Beauseau’s car etch a careening pattern in the darkness outside a motel window.

“I thought the car was driven by a drunk and did not pay much attention until the car came into my driveway and I heard cries for help,” Church said.

“The man opened the door of the car and collapsed to the ground after telling me to take a lesson and never pick up a hitchhiker along the road,” Church added.

It was while the youths were sleeping that sheriff’s deputies walked to their door and demanded they open it.

Jake Libby and in Constantine, deputies, arrested the pair at the motel at 9 a. m., 10 hours after the slaying.

Officers said they found the weapon under a divan in the court.

Both youths readily admitted their parts in the affray, but denied knowing their victim had died, Boies said.

The wounded man died as he was being taken to the Southside District Hospital at Mesa.

Riddell in ending his statements said:

“Oplie and I meant to rob the man of his car and money. We meant to strip him of his clothes so that he would have a hard time getting to town after we left him on the desert.

“I guess it didn’t turn out that way, he added.

At headquarters, Oplie and Riddell admitted serving sentences for car thefts at Texas State Reformatory, Gainesville, Tex. Riddell added that he also had served two other terms at the Federal Reformatory at El Reno, Okla., for the same offense.

They said they had bummed around with one another for the last five years including time spent in the Texas reformatory.

Beauseau had lived in Los Angeles with his wife and 2 ½ -year-old son, but was employed as a photographer by the Fix Studios of Boise, Ida. His mother, Mrs. Mary Gibson of Van Vleck, Tex., also survives.

Arizona Republic, March 21, 1950

Teen-Age Hitchhikers Kill Los Angeles Driver

A Los Angeles photographer was shot to death Sunday night near Mesa, Ariz., by one of two teen-age hitchhikers to whom he had given a ride. He was G. A. “Andy” Beauseau, 36, of 1170 S Norton Ave. Two youths were arrested yesterday in connection with the killing.

In Mesa Sheriff L. C. Boies said the youths, Elbert Gene Riddell, 19, and Charles Ray Oplie, 16, were arrested in a motor court at the edge of town. The boys admitted the shooting, he said, and Riddell confessed that he fired the fatal shot during a scuffle while he and Oplie were trying to rob their benefactor.

Victim Drives

Boise said the youths told him that Beauseau picked them up at Globe, about 75 miles east of Mesa. The car was loaded with cameras and photographic equipment. The flight occurred just outside Mesa.

The dying victim drove into the driveway of a motor court and gasped to the operator that he had been shot through the chest. He opened the door of the car and tumbled out.

“At first I thought the man was drunk,” the officer quoted Marshall Church, motel operator, as saying. “He spelled out his name and told me to get in touch with his wife.”

Beauseau’s last words to Church reportedly were, “I’m dying. Let this be a lesson to you. Do not ever pick up anyone on the highway. I got away from them after they shot me. They didn’t get anything.”

Beauseau was returning to Los Angeles from Boise, Ida. During the war he was attached to the Army Air Force’s first motion picture unit at Culver City. He leaves his wife Eileen, who left here yesterday for Mesa; a 2-year-old son Ronald, and his mother, Mrs. Mary Gibson of Van Vleck, Tex.

The Los Angeles Times, March 21, 1950
 

Funeral Services Conducted Thursday For James R. Blair

Funeral services were conducted from Taylor Brothers Funeral Home Chapel Thursday morning at 11 o’clock for James Robertson Blair, 47, of Van Vleck.

Burial was in Cedarvale Cemetery, with the Rev. A. C. Maxted officiating. Taylor Brothers Funeral Home had charge of arrangements.

Mr. Blair died suddenly December 1 of a heart ailment.

A former service station operator in Bay City, Mr. Blair was a veteran of World War II and was a member of the Episcopal Church.

He is survived by his wife; his mother, Mrs. Reba Blair of Ganado; two sisters, Mrs. R. W. Keyes of Arlington, Virginia, and Mrs. A. A. Cobb of Dallas; one brother, George of Houston.

Pallbearers were Ross Dean, Otis Bickham, Phillip Johnson, Cecil Millican, Burt O’Connell, and L. L. Bickham.

Daily Tribune, December 10, 1953
 

William L. Blair


 

W. T. Blair – [W. L. Blair]

Mr. W. T. Blair, for many years a citizen of this county, died at his home in this city Tuesday after a lingering illness. The burial took place in Cedarvale Cemetery yesterday and was attended by a large concourse of people.

Mr. Blair followed farming for a business, but had been living in Bay City for several months prior to his death. He leaves a wife and several children to whom the sympathy of the entire community is extended.

Daily Tribune, May 15, 1924
 

Robert Dean Burnell - Courtesy of Jim Wright

Robert Dean Burnell

Funeral services for Robert Dean Burnell, 29, of Sugar Land will be held at 4 p. m. Saturday at First United Methodist Church of Bay City with the Rev. Bill Dugger of Bay City and the Rev. Dick Summers of Kerrville officiating.

Mr. Burnell was born Aug. 16, 1957, in Houston to William Lloyd and Mary Frank Burnell and died Aug. 6, 1987, at Diagnostic Hospital, Houston.

He graduated from Bay City High School and attended Rice University for two years where he won the Dale Morgan Award as most valuable baseball player at Rice University.

He was a member of the Methodist church.

Survivors include his mother, Mary Frank Carr Burnell of Bay City; three brothers and sisters-in-law, William Lloyd and Phyllis Burnell of Val Dosta, Ga., Thornton Drew and Ginny Burnell of Sugar Land and Thomas Frances and Paula Burnell of Bay City; twin sister and brother-in-law, Barbara Jean and John Merrilles of Bay City; his fiancé, Meredith Anne Wargo of Houston; an aunt, Lucille Roberts of Bay City; an uncle, Tony Carr of Bay City; 12 nieces and nephews; and a friend of the family, Mike Morrow of Bay City.

Pallbearers include Bill Roberts, Jay Payton, John Samuels, Richard Meyers, Chris Carr, Chris Hennessey and Greg Coker.

Memorials can be made to the Bob Burnell Memorial Baseball Fund of Rice University, in care of First National Bank of Bay City.

Arrangements are with Taylor Brothers Funeral Home, Bay City.

Daily Tribune, August 7, 1987
 

Dora Cass Cabaniss & Charlie Victor Cabaniss

Charley Cabaniss Dead

From Tuesday’s Daily.

While expected, the death of C. V. Cabaniss, of Markham, county commissioner of Precinct No. 4, which occurred at his home at Markham yesterday afternoon at 4:30 o’clock, caused a pall of sadness amongst his many friends in the city when the news of it was received.

Besides being an efficient and capable official, Charley Cabaniss was one of the most likable of men and very popular.

His genial disposition won many steadfast friends. Even during his long and incurable illness, his pleasant smile and disposition was ever ready to greet everyone and through such constant congeniality he gathered about himself many staunch and reliable friends and admirers.

Mr. Cabaniss was 53 years of age and has been a resident of Matagorda County for a number of years, making Markham his home continuously. He has represented the Markham precinct as commissioner for several terms. In 1918 he was serving as such when in the fall of that year he was stricken with the flu and had to resign. For several months following that attack he was at the point of death but finally recovered and was re-elected to his old position. The effects of the 1918 trouble, however did not leave him in his old robust health and several months ago troubles, from which he could get no relief set in, with the result of yesterday following.

The funeral took place in Cedarvale, Bay City’s Cemetery this afternoon and was attended by a large concourse of sorrowing friends and relatives

Mr. Cabaniss is survived by his wife and daughter, here, and a mother, three brothers, Champ, Will and Jess, all of Lockhart and a large connection in Caldwell County, his old home. To these the sympathy of the entire section is extended.

Courts Adjourned Out of Respect For C. V. Cabaniss

At the courts, district, county and commissioners, closed today out of respect to the memory of C. V. Cabaniss, who, prior to his demise, was a member of the commissioners court.

Even the grand jury recessed for the …and the courthouse was locked up, so that no business could be transacted.

The official family attended the funeral in a body.

 Matagorda County Tribune, June 15, 1923
 

Thornton Francis Carr - Courtesy of Gale French

Thornton Francis Carr

Funeral services for Thornton Francis Carr, 77, father of Toney Carr of Palacios, were held at 2 p. m. Thursday, April 4, at Taylor Brothers Chapel in Bay City with Rev. James Thompson officiating. Interment was in Cedarvale Cemetery.

A former resident of Bay City he passed away April 3 at the Wharton Manor Nursing Home.

Other survivors include two daughters, Mrs. Lucille Roberts of Beaumont and Mrs. Mary Frank Burnell of Bay City; sister, Mrs. Margaret Wright of Bay City; brother, Bert Carr of Houston; 8 grandchildren and 9 great grandchildren.

Daily Tribune, April 11, 1974
 

Vernon E. Cheatham & Arvie Lee Cheatham

Vernon E. Cheatham

Funeral services for Vernon E. Cheatham, 71, of Bay City, are scheduled for 2 p. m. Tuesday, March 7, 1995, at Taylor Bros. Funeral Home Chapel with the Rev. Craig Ashcraft officiating. Burial will be at Cedarvale Cemetery in Bay City.

Mr. Cheatham was born Oct. 18, 1923, in Houston, to Benjamin Franklin and Ethel Davidson Cheatham and died March 4, 1995, at St. Luke’s Hospital in Houston.

He was a resident of Bay City since 1970 and a former resident of Humble. He retired in 1989 as a mechanical foreman with Sun Oil Co. after 42 years of service. He was also a veteran of World War II serving in the U. S. Army.

Survivors include a son, Philip K. Cheatham of Bay City and a sister, Gloria Lown of Bolivar, N. Y.

He was preceded in death by his wife, Arvie Lee Cheatham of Bay City on Dec. 14, 1993.

Pallbearers are Pete Arnold, Ron Bratton, Clarence “Sonny Boy” Philips, Dr. David Krenek, Hollis D. “Kirk” Kirkland Jr. and Bryan Kirkland.

Arrangements are with Taylor Bros. Funeral home of Bay City.

Daily Tribune, March 7, 1995

Arvie Lee Cheatham

Funeral services for Arvie Lee Cheatham, 66, of Bay City are scheduled for 4 p. m. Saturday at Taylor Brothers Funeral Home chapel in Bay City with Brother Herbert Thornton officiating. Burial will follow in Cedarvale Cemetery.

Mrs. Cheatham was born April 25, 1927, in Humble to Columbus Lee and Nora Arvie Kirkland Borders and died Dec. 14, 1993, at the Gulf Coast Medical Center Hospital in Wharton.

A former longtime resident of Humble, she moved to Bay City in 1970. She was a member of the Church of Christ.

Survivors include her husband, Vernon E. Cheatham of Bay City; a son, Phillip K. Cheatham of Missouri City; a sister, Juanita Saxon of Vidor; two cousins, Jimmie Ann Ervin of Humble and Hollis D. Kirkland of Bay City and several nieces and nephews.

Pallbearers are L. C. Rush, Pete Arnold, Clarence Philips, Corlis Ashcraft, H. D. “Kirk” Kirkland Jr. and Bryan K. C. Kirkland.

Arrangements are with Taylor Brothers Funeral Home of Bay City.

Daily Tribune, December 17, 1993