Shafted, If You Ask Me
Shanna Riley March 3rd, 2008
Shafted. That's the term that came to mind when I stumbled across the grave of James Pas Hankston at a small, unmarked church and cemetery off the River Road (Hwy. 405) in White Castle, Louisiana.
The small, Iberville Parish graveyard, I later learned, was Asbury Independent Methodist Church Cemetery and its almost centurion occupant caught my eye from the get-go.
I suppose after years of poking around burial grounds, you get a keen eye for the interesting graves. Something about Mr. Hankston's tomb stood out and I snapped it - but it wasn't until I got home and was uploading his memorial to Find A Grave, that I realized just why his marker was unique.
James Hankston, I realized, died just seven days short of his 100th birthday! Born on December 12, 1900, the elderly man was headed towards making the laudable century mark but was cut short only a few days shy - on December 5, 2000. Oh, the irony! The cruel, bitter irony - to make it so far and then,...not make it.
As I left a virtual flower for the poor soul, I couldn't help but think how unfair it all seemed. Shafted, indeed.
- The Dead
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