Kenedy - Turcotte - Lytton Cemeteries

The cemeteries to the west of Sacred Heart Chapel (the 'Kenedy-Turcotte Cemetery') and to the east (the 'Lytton Cemetery') contain the final resting places of various members of the Kenedy family and certain in-laws.

There were three generations of Kenedys at La Parra Ranch. The patriarch of the family, Mifflin (1818-1895), and his wife, Petra Vela (1825-1885), bought the land, but neither of them lived here. The second generation consisted of John Gregory, Sr. (1856-1931) and his wife Marie Stella Turcotte (1862-1940). They moved by oxen and mules the original frame house to its present location (approximately 100 yards east of this chapel). On the former site of that frame house they built the present stucco "Big House." John Gregory, Sr. and Marie Stella had two children: "Johnny, Jr." (1886-1948) and Sarita (1889-1961). Johnny married Elena Suess (1889-1984), and eventually moved into the original frame house. Sarita married Arthur Lee East (1882-1944), and occupied the "Big House." Neither couple had any children.

Mifflin and Petra are buried in Brownsville. They had six children, of whom only two survived them. These were John Gregory, Sr. and Sara Josephine, who married Dr. Arthur Spohn. Sara Josephine and her husband are buried in Corpus Christi. John Gregory, Sr., his wife, their two children and their spouses are buried in the Kenedy-Turcotte Cemetery. In the southwest corner of that cemetery are the graves of two brothers of Marie Stella: George Henri and William Turcotte with the latter's wife, Amilie Bossier (first row). Two of William and Amilie's three children, Stella and Louis Edgar, Sr. (cousins of Johnny and Sarita), together with their spouses, are buried in these cemeteries. Stella and her husband, Lee Hargis Lytton, Sr., together with Lee, Jr. and his wife, Mary Elizabeth, are buried in the Lytton Cemetery. Louis Edgar, Sr. and his wife, Elizabeth Anderson, are buried in the Kenedy-Turcotte Cemetery (southwest corner, second row).

The statue of St. Francis of Assisi in the Lytton cemetery is from Mary Elizabeth Lytton's rose garden in Sarita. It was donated by her children.

The Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes, located at the northwest corner of the Kenedy-Turcotte Cemetery, was build by the Kenedy's in the late 1920's. The rock was imported from the Texas Hill Country, presumably from around Austin.

Approximately a mile southeast of this chapel is the "Cowboy Cemetery." This is a burial site of Kenedy Ranch employees and their families, dating back to the early 1900's.

used with permission of the Lebh Shomea House of Prayer