In Tampa graveyard, young man grieves for other young men

In Tampa graveyard, young man grieves for other young men and vows: 'No more funerals.'
Elisabeth Parker, Times staff writer
Posted: Aug 15, 2009 04:43 PM


BY ELISABETH PARKER

TAMPA — The lanky young man pauses to right an upturned vase of flowers as he makes his way through a groomed landscape in Rest Haven Memorial Park.

He carries a Bible, tucked under his arm. Sometimes he brings dollar store flowers.

This is where Clarence Jones comes each week to visit his friends, eight in all, to make sense of why their lives ended so soon.

Guys like Willie Cherry III, Dale Matthews, Kwane Doster, Tyrie Gunn — all shot in the past five years, all dead by age 21.

"Hey there cousin," he says to a mammoth piece of granite adorned with white flowers. He hangs his head, "Dang, daddy."

He plants a knee on the stone and taps on a round picture of a young man wearing sunglasses: “Slow-talking Sheldon. Won't-hurt-a-fly Sheldon. It hurts so bad," he says.
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In Tampa graveyard, young man grieves for other young men