wow

 

What? You don't think this building in Hale Center has that wow factor?  It is the home of Woodmen of the World, a "fraternal benefit society." Founded in in 1890 in  by Joseph Cullen Root after hearing a sermon about "pioneer woodsmen clearing away the forest to provide for their families". Root wanted to start a Society that "would clear away problems of financial security for its members." Today WOW offers life insurance and annuities to its members.  The organization may be best known for its tombstones.  Surely in your excursions through cemeteries you've noticed those grave markers that look like tree trunks.  Early WOW life insurance policies included a free tombstone.  That practice was discontinued in the 1920s primarily due to cost; however, the society ensures that "no Woodmen shall rest in an unmarked grave."  WOW marker design was a four to five foot high tree trunk monument and included symbols like axes, wedges and other types of tools used in woodworking.  Doves were also popular motifs.

 





Floydada Cemetery

 

 

Woodmen of the World

121 W. Stevenson

Hale Center, Texas

5.16.2014