LITTLE ROCK — When Bobbie Highfill went to Roselawn Memorial Park in Little Rock to visit the graves of three family members, all of whom were military veterans, she noticed the other veterans’ graves nearby.
Struck by the number of graves marked with recognition for wartime service or for being killed in action, Highfill went to the cemetery office to find out how many veterans were buried there.
The cemetery had no record of the number of veterans buried there or where they were buried.
Five years later, Highfill has recorded the names of at least 1,000 veterans in the 100-acre cemetery, a project she refers to as a “labor of love.”
“Everybody out there has got a story,” Highfill said. “You can’t help but feel attached to them.”
Since beginning her project to record the names of the veterans, Highfill has visited the cemetery at 2801 Asher Ave. at least once or twice a week, sometimes accompanied by her husband and sister.
Many times, Highfill said she is right behind the attendant opening the grounds about 6:30 a.m. and will canvass the cemetery for several hours.
The veterans in the cemetery served in every branch of the military, in both World Wars and many were from different states. Some lived past their military service and others died in war.
Since she began the project, Highfill has been contacted by several families of veterans, asking her to include their loved ones in her registry.
Highfill said she will continue to turn over the names to the cemetery so a thorough record is maintained.
On Saturday morning, Highfill was joined by several dozen students from Mount St. Mary Academy and Catholic High School, both in Little Rock, who helped mark about 800 veterans’ graves with American flags.
After seeing how many of the graves had not been visited or maintained, Highfill said she was driven to lay out the flags, expanding the initial scope of her project.
“I’m sure some of them have never had a flag on their graves,” Highfill said.
Sgt. Maj. Randal Jernigan, the senior Marine Corps instructor at Catholic High School in Little Rock, said he was immediately drawn to the project when Highfill reached out to him earlier this year.
“It should be a project for everybody to remember those who’ve gone before them,” Jernigan said.
Members of the Catholic High School ROTC program will come back to the cemetery every year to place the flags, he said.
“It’s teaching the cadets to pay respect to those who served their country before them,” Jernigan said. “It gives them time to reflect on what people have done in the past and carry on traditions.”
Highfill said she was “tickled” by the response she got from the ROTC and students at Mount St. Mary Academy, as well as friends who provided supplies and individual donors who helped purchase the flags.
But Highfill said the work isn’t done yet. She will continue working on the project in hopes of recording all of the veterans at the cemetery, she said.
“I’m not expecting accolades or anything,” Highfill said. “I just want the veterans to be recognized.”
Arkansas, Pages 15 on 11/11/2012