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From the late 1800's until the early 1940's, the Sunshine Community encompasses this part of what is now Corpus Christi. The small farming and ranching settlement, also known as encinal, boasted a school, union church, and post office. The sunshine school was in operation from 1887 until 1942, when it was consolidated with the Aberdeen School. Baptist, Methodist, Church of Christ, and other denominations alternated Sunday services at the Union Church. The post office and the cemetery at this site are the only physical remnants of the Sunshine Community. The oldest marked grave in the cemetery, that of Ethel Eva Capeheart, is dated 1903. Tombstones in the Sunshine Cemetery reflect the family names of some of the early settlers who came to the area. John James Parry (d. 1920), a native of Wales, came to Texas in 1872. A farmer and rancher, Parry also preached Baptist services at the Union Church. His wife, Mary Elizabeth (1854-1935), and five of their ten children and buried in the Parry Family plot. The Haney Family section includes the burial site of James Silas Haney (1871-1939), his wife Ella Smith (1882-1962), and seven of their ten children. Other members of the Sunshine Community and their descendants also are buried here. |
