Tony Thompson (1975-2007)

    Anthony Ulysses Thompson was born in Waco on September 2, 1975, to parents Tony and Doris Thompson. In 1984, he started singing solos in the church choir and at local talent shows. Another singer, William Walton, saw him perform and reached out to Thompson in hopes of getting him signed to a label. He was attached to an already-signed group named Ador, but after the departure of one of the members, another singer was brought in and the boys changed their name to Hi-Five. 

    Hi-Five was originally signed to Jive Records in late 1989 and released their eponymous debut album on September 25, 1990. Produced by Teddy Riley, the album went multi-platinum and included such singles as I Just Can't Handle It (R&B #10), I Can't Wait Another Minute (Pop #8, R&B #1), and their biggest hit to date, I Like the Way (The Kissing Game), which went to number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and the U.S. Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. The group's second LP, Keep It Goin' On, came out in 1992. Though not as successful as their debut effort, several tracks from this album, including She's Playing Hard to Get (Pop #5, R&B #2) and the R. Kelly-penned Quality Time (Pop #38, R&B #3) got major airplay in East Coast urban markets. In 1993, Hi-Five emerged with a third album, Faithful, which featured the songs Unconditional Love (Pop #92, R&B #21) and Never Should've Let You Go (Pop #30, R&B #10). Unconditional Love was also featured on the multi-platinum Menace II Society soundtrack, and received extensive airplay on urban contemporary stations throughout the summer of 1993 as the movie increased in popularity. 

    When the group briefly disbanded in 1994, Thompson found solo success the following year with his debut album Sexsational, released on June 23, 1995. The album spawned two singles, one of which was its lead single scored moderate success, the top 20 R&B hit I Wanna Love Like That became his highest-charting sole appearance on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart, peaking inside the top sixty, where it reached #59 on that chart. Sexsational received positive reviews, particularly praise for Thompson's vocals, but was criticized for the album's weak material. 

    On a November 4, 2005 promotional radio appearance with Wendy Williams, Thompson and his re-formed bandmates were confronted with a cease and desist letter, which Williams read aloud. Sent on behalf of two former Hi-Five bandmates, the letter cited their legal ownership of the Hi-Five name, which stopped all distribution of album/CD and sales. Shortly afterward on November 22, a lawsuit was filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York as a third former bandmate joined the initial complaint. The action would prohibit Thompson, an original founding member, from using the trademark Hi-Five name since it expired in 1997 and was not renewed. Thompson was named as lead defendant, along with a former and three new bandmates, several distributors, retail outlet stores including Amazon, Walmart and RN'D, his primary distributor. Ultimately, the legal case was not dismissed until August 2009, over two years after Thompson's death. On June 1, 2007, Thompson's body was discovered by security officers near an air-conditioning unit outside of an apartment complex in Waco. An autopsy later determined that Thompson died from the "toxic effects of chlorodifluoromethane," or inhaling a toxic amount of Freon. He was laid to rest in his hometown and finally received his grave marker in 2010.

Doris Miller Memorial Park

Waco

COORDINATES

31° 36.753, -097° 04.140

William C. Swearingen (?-1839)

    William C. Swearingen, soldier of the Republic of Texas, enlisted at Velasco on February 13, 1836, "for two years or the duration of the war." He joined Sam Houston's army on the Colorado River, and at the battle of San Jacinto he fought in Capt. Amasa Turner's Company B of Lt. Col. Henry W. Millard's Regular Infantry battalion. From the battlefield on April 23 Swearingen wrote a lengthy and detailed account of the campaign and battle to his brother Lemuel in Scottsville, Kentucky. The letter ends with the poignant request that his brother "kiss William for me and tell him pappy will be there in the fall and stay with him always." With the reorganization of the army after San Jacinto, Swearingen was transferred to Company A of the First Regiment, Regular Infantry, under Capt. John Smith, formerly Millard's first sergeant. He was posted to Galveston Island but served a part of his enlistment period on detached duty aboard the schooner Apollo out of Cedar Bayou. 

    He received a promotion to sergeant on March 17 and resigned from the army on November 4, 1836, but reappeared on the muster roll of February 28, 1837. He died in Houston on December 24, 1839. Swearingen was most likely a kinsman of Elemeleck Swearingen, who also fought in Turner's company at San Jacinto, and of Elemeleck's brother V. W. Swearingen, who served in Capt. John York's company at the siege of Bexar and with Capt. Moseley Baker's company at San Jacinto. He subsequently took part in the Mier expedition and was incarcerated at Perote prison. Elemeleck and V. W. Swearingen moved from Kentucky to Milheim, Austin County, Texas, in 1830. Source

Note: This is a cenotaph. Founders Memorial Park, originally founded in 1836 as Houston's first city cemetery, was rapidly filled due to a yellow fever epidemic and closed to further burials around 1840. The cemetery became neglected over a period of time, often vandalized and was heavily damaged by the 1900 hurricane. In 1936, despite a massive clean up effort, a century of neglect had taken its toll. The vast majority of grave markers were either destroyed or missing and poor record keeping prevented locating individual graves. Several cenotaphs were placed in random areas throughout the park in honor of the more high-profile citizens buried there, but a great number of graves go unmarked to this day.


Founders Memorial Park
Houston

COORDINATES

29° 45.436, -095° 22.769

John Emmett Lyle (1910-2003)

    John Emmett Lyle, Jr., member of the Texas and United States House of Representatives and the Texas State Cemetery Committee, was born near Paradise in the village of Boyd, Wise County, Texas, on September 4, 1910. A third generation Texan, he graduated from Wichita Falls High School and attended the junior college there, before enrolling in The University of Texas at Austin. While in Austin, he worked as a night watchman in the basement of the Capitol. After graduating from UT, he attended the night school branch of the Houston Law School, and, in 1934, began a legal career that ultimately spanned 69 years. At the suggestion of Governor James Allred, he moved to Corpus Christi, Texas, and set up a private practice. However, in 1939, he was elected to the State Legislature representing a district comprised of Nueces, Duvall and Jim Wells Counties.

    In the beginning of World War II, in 1942, he volunteered and took his basic training as a private in the Army. He was sent to Officer Training School where he graduated as a second Lieutenant. He was then assigned as a platoon leader to an Automatic Weapons Battalion in the 536th. That battalion was quickly sent to North Africa where he experienced combat as well as in Malta, Sicily and Italy. He was awarded a Purple Heart in the Anzio campaign and while serving as an infantry officer in the Arno River campaign, he was nominated and elected to the U. S. Congress for the fourteenth District of Texas. This District was made up of 19 counties. Congressman Lyle became the ranking member on the powerful Rules Committee. He served five terms and chose not to stand for reelection.

   Congressman Lyle returned to South Texas and resumed the practice of law being active in the State Bar Association. He served on the State Board of Directors of the State Bar Association and as President of the Nueces County Bar Association. During that period as a lawyer and businessman, he represented many individuals, major energy companies, and served on corporate boards of both public and privately owned companies. He was a long time member of the Board of St. Luke's Hospital. During those years he served on Presidential Commissions under President Kennedy, Johnson, Reagan and most recently, in 1994, appointed by Presidential Clinton to the Federal Council on Aging. In 1963, he moved to Houston, Texas, where he continued to practice law and remained a member of both the Texas Bar Association and the American Bar Association. He was an active trustee for the David Dewhurst Trust as well as a member of the Board of Directors of numerous Falcon Seaboard companies. He was an active member of St. Martin's Episcopal Church and served on the Vestry, as Senior Warden, and as a member of the Senior Council. John Emmett Lyle, Jr. passed away on November 11, 2003, and was buried in the Texas State Cemetery. Source

Republic Hill
Texas State Cemetery
Austin

COORDINATES

30° 15.936, -097° 43.638

Joel Walter Robison (1815-1889)

    Joel Walter Robison, soldier and legislator, was born in Washington County, Georgia, on October 4 or 5, 1815, the son of John G. Robison. He moved to Texas from Georgia with his parents and one sister in 1831 and settled first near Columbia in Brazoria County. With his father, he served in Capt. Henry Stevenson Brown's company at the battle of Velasco on June 26, 1832. In 1833 the family moved to a farm on the west bank of Cummings Creek in Fayette County, and Robison became a volunteer Indian fighter in the company of Capt. John York. He served at the siege of Bexar in 1835 and took part in the Grass Fight and the battle of Concepción. At the battle of San Jacinto, Robison was a private in Capt. William Jones Elliott Heard's Company F of Col. Edward Burleson's First Regiment, Texas Volunteers, and was one of the party that captured Antonio López de Santa Anna. The Mexican general is said to have entered the Texan camp riding double on Robison's horse. 

    On December 14, 1836, Sam Houston commissioned Robison a first lieutenant in the Texas Rangers. In 1837 Robison married Emily Almeida Alexander, who was born in Kentucky in 1821. They became the parents of seven children. In 1840 Robison owned 6,652 acres in Fayette County, and on January 31, 1840, he was elected commissioner of the Fayette County land office. His brother-in-law, Jerome B. Alexander, was killed in the Dawson Massacre in 1842. Robison became a prosperous planter and was elected in 1860 as a Democrat to the Eighth Legislature, where he favored secession. He served until 1862. From 1870 until 1879 he owned a store in Warrenton in partnership with one of his sons. At the end of the Reconstruction period he was elected to the Constitutional Convention of 1875. Emily Robison died in 1887, and Joel died at his home in Warrenton on August 4, 1889. Both were buried in the Florida Chapel Cemetery near Round Top, but in 1932 their remains were moved to the State Cemetery in Austin. Robison, an active Mason, was second vice president of the Texas Veterans Association at the time of his death. Source 

Monument Hill
Texas State Cemetery
Austin

COORDINATES

30° 15.914, -097° 43.638