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REIDSVILLE — Two late members of the William Bethell Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution were honored in a special ceremony Oct. 19.

Special DAR insignia markers were placed at the graves of Malinda Ross Jones Wall and Geneva Doris Underwood Jackson at Reidlawn Cemetery.

The short ceremony was led by chapter Regent Susan Bullock.

A 1991 DAR ruling allows any woman accepted as a member to have the marker placed at her grave site.

Bullock said the markers perpetuate the memory and the spirit of the men and women who achieved American independence.

Chaplain Mary Hux read scriptures, after which several members shared loving memories of the two women.

Hux told of her special relationship with Jackson, who passed away Feb. 22.

After obtaining her education degree in midlife, Hux did her student teaching at Reidsville Junior High School. Jackson was one of her mentors.

“She was an excellent teacher who knew how to relate to students from all kinds of backgrounds,” Hux said. “I’ve never seen a teacher that could bring any more out of student than she was able to do.

“She was a good disciplinarian, and she was greatly loved by her students. It was wonderful training for me to observe her.”

Jackson also was a sustaining member of the Junior Service League and a member of Flora Garden Club. The mother of Edna Diachenko and Neva Jane Cresenzo, she was preceded in death by Philip M. Jackson, her husband of 49 years.

A friendship between Wall and Carol Adams began in elementary school, and they lived in the same neighborhood, Adams said.

“She was like a sister to me. She enjoyed doing the same things I did. We had a lot in common.”

When Wall joined the DAR, she did a lot of genealogical research with Julia Gunn.

“They did a lot of groundwork for me,” Adams said. “We went out of town a lot to research our roots. We enjoyed doing things in the DAR together.

“She was real interested in tracing her roots and really researched different lines in her family.”

Wall, who passed away Feb. 19, was the mother of Woody Wall, Karen Howard and Cindy Sarwi. She retired as a kindergarten teacher at First United Methodist Church, where she was a member.

Wall also was a member of the national lineage organization Sons and Daughters of the Pilgrims, the National Society Colonial Dames XVII Century, Order of the Crown of Charlemagne, the Jamestowne Society, the General Society of the War of 1812 and United Daughters of the Confederacy.

At the end of the ceremony, the drapes over the insignias were lifted.

Reidsville native Ann Fish has lived in Eden since 1979. Contact her at annsomersfish@yahoo.com.