Cemetery Saturday (a wee bit early) - Leonard Cleveland Anderson

Not sure if I'll get around to posting tomorrow so I wanted to share a headstone today of my Grandfather - Leonard Cleveland Anderson.

Leonard was born on Feb 25, 1896 in Virginia and died Aug 6, 1978 at the VA Hospital in Martinsburg WV. He was the son of Charles William Anderson and Sallie Virginia Holt. Leonard was in the army for a short time during WWI, but never saw any action due to several illnesses and a chronic back problem.

He was married to May Kidwell in Fairfax Virginia, who I understand left her first husband for him. Together they lived in DC until she died in 1933 as a result of the birth of their final children (twins). Together they had 5 children. He was then married to Edna Keener, together they had 3 children.

Leonard is buried at the Lewinsville Presbyterian Church in McLean, Fairfax County, Virginia; along with other members of the Anderson, Holt and Keener families. In this second photo, beneath the bush on the left is the stone of his Grandmother, Mary M. Holt (mother of Sallie Holt).

Mary M. Holt and Leonard were the only two headstones in the area but I wanted to know who else was in the vicinity of their plots. The records at this cemetery were not readily available when I requested them. As a matter of fact, I was originally told that they could not be found. Several days later the gentleman called me back "Someone above must be smiling down on you" he continued - "I picked up a book this afternoon and out fell the records for your family plot." He promised to send information via email which is outlined here;
Our records show that in 1924 Leonard C. Anderson obtained rights for Lot 5 in our cemetery, which consisted of 12 burial plots. 6 of those were used, the other 6 were returned to the church in 1988 - at this time my Grandmother had re-married and moved to Florida.

Also buried in this lot, without stones, are Sallie Virginia Anderson, Charles William Anderson, Pauline Keener Harrington and Richard Cleveland Anderson. There was also a note about a child burial, possibly beneath Sallie, but the records gave no details - not even a date about this burial. We believe it is a child of Sallie & Charles' who died when very young.