Petrified Wood From Ross Cemetery At Shover Springs Returns Home

By Staff, 06/21/21 8:28 PM

A piece of petrified wood that has really been around has been returned to the Ross Cemetery near Shover Springs. According to Roman Ross of Texas, when his great grandmother died in 1979 and was buried at the Oak Grove Methodist Church Cemetery, the family visited a Ross Cemetery that had been part of the old family homestead. At the time, the petrified wood was scattered around the cemetery but the wood had been originally used to mark the graves of an African-American family that were friends with the Ross family in the 1800’s. Roman Ross’s father, Larry Ross, received permission from his father to get one piece of the petrified wood for his rock bed in his house in Deer Park, Texas. Later, Roman’s Mom and Step-father used the petrified wood to line a koi pond. This was set in quikrete and was unable to be removed when his Mom sold the house in 1997. As luck would have it, the new owner happened to be a friend of the family. Roman wanted to retrieve the piece of petrified wood but was unable to get it before it was given to the owner’s relative in Pasadena, Texas. Roman did eventually get the piece of rock back and displayed it at his home in Baytown, Texas. Later, about 8 years ago, Ross visited the Ross Cemetery again and realized the remaining pieces of petrified rock had been replaced in a symmetrical pattern. He decided then to eventually return his piece of petrified wood.

Roman Ross’s father Larry passed away in August 2020. Roman planned to bring some of his dad’s ashes back to Hope and to bring the petrified wood back to the Ross Cemetery. Unfortunately, COVID put a kink in those plans but Roman was able to return earlier this month and replace the petrified wood when he spread some of his dad’s ashes.

Anyone who would like to learn more about the Ross family can visit johnrosssr.com. You can contact Roman Ross about his family at 281-222-3789 or email rross991@icloud.com