September 9, 2024
(Funeral Arrangements for James Leonard McAlpin updated)
James Leonard McAlpin was born 21 January 1944 to James Olin and Willie Inez Thrash McAlpin In Anniston, Cleburne County, Alabama.
17 April 2021, Saturday and 20 March 2021, Saturday (17 March 2021, Wednesday, Doug Yancy’s story) Journal entry 2 PM Dear Michael and Matthew, I am in the process of making arrangements for my funeral many years in the future, (about 30 years or more from now). I know there are no guarantees for another day of life. I want to be prepared if my ticket is punched to leave this world (when my time is up on this earth). I want to be prepared to travel to the next life, “with my tithing paid and my bags packed”. I talked to Mindy Miller on Wednesday, 17th, March 2021, at 2 PM. She is the granddaughter of Hubert Miller. Hubert’s father started the funeral home using a horse and wagon. Hubert used his hearse an ambulance to take dad (Olin McAlpin) to the hospital several times before he finally passed away. Mindy is about Rae Lynn’s age, probably a little younger. I have attached the documents, contract, notes, and insurance policy she filled out. I am attaching these documents in a separate email; nothing has been paid and no contract for their services has been signed. I hope the instructions below are clear. You asked what it is I desire? This has nothing to do with my death or funeral, but what I want more than anything else, is for all my family, children, grandchildren, posterity, and friends to believe in Christ and to be reconciled to God; to love Him and love each other; keep all His commandments and never let contention in the doors of our homes. When I came into this world everyone was happy; it was a festive occasion. When I leave this world, I hope it will be the same, a time of celebration, a festive occasion, with no sorrow or sadness. This has been my thoughts for some time but reading; “Thou shalt live together in love, insomuch that thou shalt weep for the loss of them that die.” (D&C 42:45.) I thought I may desires may be wrong. Then I read, “Moreover, we can’t fully appreciate joyful reunions later without tearful separations now. The only way to take sorrow out of death is to take love out of life.” Russell M. Nelson, April General Conference 1992. I have rethought this and maybe a little sadness is OK. It will be appropriate to have a viewing of my body, dressed in the robes of the Holy Priesthood, in the chapel or funeral home wherever I may be living at the time of my death. Please make certain I am dressed in the robes of the Holy Priesthood. Afterward, transfer me to Millers' Funeral Home in Tallapoosa. Those who work at the funeral home will have the responsibility to take me to Pleasant Hill Church just off the Jacksonville Road, Tallapoosa, Haralson County, Georgia, where the Bishop of the Buchanan Ward or the Bishop of the nearest ward of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will conduct the funeral service in the Pleasant Hill Church chapel. I want the Bishop or his designee to speak on the plan of salvation, where we came from, why are we here, and where are we going when we leave this life. Family members or anyone who wishes to speak is fine; please, just no sadness, sorrow, or crying at my departing. I suspect there will be a lot of joy and rejoicing on the other side when I arrive, just as there was when I was born, and I don’t want any (very little) sadness here when I depart. It would be nice but not necessary to have some bagpipe music. Songs that I would like played and sung, one is an Adventist hymn that was sung at the Pleasant Hill Church when I was a young boy. I still enjoy listing to it. It is called “It Took a Miracle”. Another is more familiar, Oh Lord How Great Thou Art.
Michael, Matthew, Gavin, Blake, Tucker, and Gavin to be pallbearers.
Please make sure I am buried at the William Alexander and Manah McAlpin family graveyard (Old Indian Graveyard) facing East. (There is a gravestone there now.) I would like for Michael, Matthew, or an immediate family member holding the Melchizedek Priesthood to dedicate my grave and re-dedicate the graveyard. ***** ______________________________________
Information about the graveyard and farm: I tried to make arrangements with Larry Bul (Frank Powell’s wife’s son-in-law) who has taken over from Frank Powell’s farming of our fields across from my old home site and the fields around the Pleasant Hill Church on the Jacksonville Road. I wanted Larry Bul to maintain the road in/out of the William Alexander and Manah/ Old Indian Graveyard, but he is not physically able. Jodee Pike, 285 McAlpin Road - Tallapoosa GA 30176 - Phone:(770) 312-1310, who married Jennifer, Nora Husley’s granddaughter, is cutting the grass and weeds twice a year. Once in the spring and once in the fall. He sends me pictures before and after and I pay him $250 each time. He keeps the graveyard cleaned so it does not grow up in shrubs, bushes, briers, and trees. When Larry Bul retires from raising hay and farming, he will relinquish my Allis Chalmer Tractor to Eddie Lovett. Eddie Lovett, a member of the Hunting Club, who, with the other members of the Hunting Club, have kept the old home site and pastures now planted in trees bush-hogged. The Hunting Club has the sole responsibility to maintain the farm and may at some point in time if they agree to take over William Alexander and Manah McAlpin family, Old Indian Graveyard, and the entrance road from Dewitt Husley's old home. I hope they will keep the road to the William Alexander and Manah McAlpin graveyard open and cleared. They will continue to bush-hog and maintain the home site and the space between the rows of trees planted in the pastures.
(For supporting documentation see journal notes from meeting on Saturday, 20th March 2021, with Frank Powell, Larry Bul, Allen Lovett, Eddie Lovett, and me). *Larry Bul has declined this request. Frank Powell has also declined the offer regarding the bush-hog. Frank Powell passed away October 9-10, 2023.
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