More than 50 folks gathered last Wednesday morning to witness and partake in the making of history.

After rain delayed work, the fence that had separated two private Mineola cemeteries has been taken down.

“It’s amazing what happens when people listen to each other,” Mineola Mayor Kevin White said in remarks before the ceremony on Wednesday, July 15.

The city of Mineola brought in manpower and equipment to remove the physical boundary.

Friday at the Mineola Concerned Citizens Meeting held in St. Paul Missionary Baptist Church in Mineola, Pastor Demethrius Boyd expressed gratitude on behalf of the whole community for the fence being, “totally down now. It’s open, it really looks nice, and there’s a lot more work that’s going to be done there.”

Talks began after a burial July 3 on the west side of the fence, in the formerly Black cemetery. Boyd spearheaded discussions with board members of Cedar Memorial Gardens and a decision allowing the fence to come down soon followed.

“No one person can take credit for that,” Boyd said. “That is something that happened with a lot of people working together, from the people who are buried there to the people who are alive here today. So hats off to everyone that’s involved.”

The Mineola Landmark Commission, “shares in the enthusiasm for this symbolic gesture of hope and appreciates all those who worked to achieve it,” said Jim Phillips, commission chairman.

There are historical markers and signs placed in the cemetery by the commission and junior historians.

Jennifer Berry and Gildred Price Barber, a couple of the many present on Wednesday morning, were able to take a small stretch of the dismantled chain-link fencing with them.

Barber finds meaning in having a tangible piece of over 60 years of history represented by the fence. Her mother was buried just west of it.

“This was a powerful day,” she proclaims, “It’s been here all our lives.”

“Long overdue,” said Berry of the fence being removed.

“We’re just glad to see it come down, glad to be a part of it and take a part with us. My grandkids are going to ask me, ‘What is that granny, why’re you keeping that old fence around.’

“That’s part of history it means something. So then I have to explain it to them and let them know how it was, how far it came, and how Mineola is willing to come together, stand as one and not be divided.”

Pastor Boyd views these kind of things happening as “a testament to what we can do going forward."