Forgotten of Whiteflat Cemetery rediscovered by Marylander

MARKER DEDICATION SATURDAY, APR. 11, 2026
  • MARKER MAVENS Leesa Ruderman (left, with Rhonda Spray exploring the Jack and Rosa Spray family artifact collection at the Motley County Museum) encourages donations to offset the cost of a historical marker for the Whiteflat Cemetery. Call her at (301) 639-6369 if you can help. | COURTESY PHOTO
    MARKER MAVENS Leesa Ruderman (left, with Rhonda Spray exploring the Jack and Rosa Spray family artifact collection at the Motley County Museum) encourages donations to offset the cost of a historical marker for the Whiteflat Cemetery. Call her at (301) 639-6369 if you can help. | COURTESY PHOTO

    Leesa Ruderman of Middletown, Maryland, often visited the graves of her Spray family when she returned to Texas for visits. Bits of tiny metal markers and remains of homemade markers drew her curiosity to those without more permanent memorials. Her re- search in county and physican records led her to a list of more than forty burials without any type of tombstone or marker, something Ruderman hope…