Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, April 29, 1993 TAG: 9304290100
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium
The tennis star died Feb. 6 of complications from AIDS, which doctors believe he contracted from a blood transfusion during open-heart surgery. He was buried in Woodland Cemetery next to his mother, Mattie C. Ashe, who died in 1950 when her son was 6.
Before the burial, state and city workers cleaned the privately owned cemetery. But the road that leads to the cemetery again is a dumping ground. An abandoned refrigerator, two discarded tires, a large cardboard box, a ruined waterheater and a broken toilet were among items seen strewn beside it this week.
Dandelions have begun spreading over the red dirt covering the grave of Ashe, a Richmond native who became the first black man to win Wimbledon.
A crude, hand-painted wood panel serves as a sign pointing the way to Ashe's grave.
Richmond City Councilman Roy A. West introduced a resolution Tuesday directing the city administration to study the possibility of disinterring Ashe, his mother and Maggie L. Walker, who is buried at Evergreen Cemetery.
Walker, who died in 1930, was a pioneering banker in the city's Jackson Ward section.
The resolution calls for the three to be reinterred in a "more dignified setting which is appropriate to the dignity of these important historical figures."
West said he discussed his resolution with Ashe's widow, Jeanne, but he declined to disclose details of the discussion.
"The cemetery is turning back to the way it was," West said.
Isaiah Entzminger, superintendent of Woodland Cemetery, said plot owners are responsible for maintaining the grounds.
by CNB