Musician J.W. “Blind” Boone. Singer Jane Froman. Both of these artistic luminaries and seven other historical figures from Columbia’s past will come alive through four-minute monologues held during 1 to 4 p.m. on May 29 at their graves in Columbia Cemetery on Broadway.

This event was highlighted in this “Living History event planned for Memorial Day,” article by Rudi Keller, published May 13, 2017 in the Columbia Tribune.

The event is sponsored by the Friends of the Historic Columbia Cemetery, which also has a Facebook page. The monologues were written by Chris Campbell, executive director of the Boone County Historical Society.

So who else will you get to see come to life – with a consciousness of who they were, their current deceased status and today’s events?

• Ann Hawkins Gentry, Columbia postmistress from 1838-1865.
• George Swallow, Missouri’s first state geologist and MU faculty member
• John Lathrop, president of MU twice.
• Sgt. Wallace Lilly, a slave who enlisted in the Union Army in 1864 for his freedom.
• Luella St. Clair Moss, Columbia College president from 1893 to 1920.
• James S. Rollins, a man considered the father of MU.
• Walter Williams, founder of the MU School of Journalism and MU president from 1931 to 1935.