In a private cemetery in small-town Arkansas, a woman single-handedly buried and gave funerals to more than 40 gay men during the height of the AIDS epidemic, when their families wouldn’t claim them.
-Source
One person who found the courage to push the wheel is Ruth Coker Burks. Now a grandmother living a quiet life in Rogers, in the mid-1980s Burks took it as a calling to care for people with AIDS at the dawn of the epidemic, when survival from diagnosis to death was sometimes measured in weeks. For about a decade, between 1984 and the mid-1990s and before better HIV drugs and more enlightened medical care for AIDS patients effectively rendered her obsolete, Burks cared for hundreds of dying people, many of them gay men who had been abandoned by their families. She had no medical training, but she took them to their appointments, picked up their medications, helped them fill out forms for assistance, and talked them through their despair. Sometimes she paid for their cremations. She buried over three dozen of them with her own two hands, after their families refused to claim their bodies. For many of those people, she is now the only person who knows the location of their graves.
How have I never heard of this?
People like her should be remembered. And even more importantly, we must remember that there was a time in our history when we needed someone like her.
“When Burks was a girl, she said, her mother got in a final, epic row with Burks’ uncle. To make sure he and his branch of the family tree would never lie in the same dirt as the rest of them, Burks said, her mother quietly bought every available grave space in the cemetery: 262 plots. They visited the cemetery most Sundays after church when she was young, Burks said, and her mother would often sarcastically remark on her holdings, looking out over the cemetery and telling her daughter: ‘Someday, all of this is going to be yours.’
‘I always wondered what I was going to do with a cemetery,’ she said. ‘Who knew there’d come a time when people didn’t want to bury their children?’"
Epic Grudge-holding Mom has Epically Empathetic Daughter.
She did good work.
Just to add to this, there is currently a GoFundMe page dedicated to raising money for a memorial to be placed in Files Cemetery dedicated to those whom she cared for, and those who lost their lives to the epidemic.
“Someday,” she said, “I’d love to get a monument that says: This is what
happened. In 1984, it started. They just kept coming and coming. And
they knew they would be remembered, loved and taken care of, and that
someone would say a kind word over them when they died.“
Aries moon Undeveloped: aggressive, too competitive, mood swings, childish and immature Developed: goal-orientated, hardworking, but not too hard, funny and open
Taurus moon Undeveloped: lazy, rude, holds grudges, judging, has to be right all the time Developed: stable, good with money, great with kids and family, able to make compromises
Gemini moon Undeveloped: shallow, two-faced, playing mind games, liars, selfish Developed: great communicators, weird in a cute way, very intelligent and talkactive, social
Cancer moon Undeveloped: manipulative, huffy, overprotective, possessive, jealous Developed: caring, helpful, lovable, friendly, shy, but kind, a good friend, supportive
Leo moon Undeveloped: egoistic, bossy, can be bitchy and rude, loud, tells everyone everything, can’t take critics Developed: loving, radiates positivity, optimistic, adventurous, great actor and performer, knows how to handle people
Virgo moon Undeveloped: pessimistic, too hard on themselves, but blames others for their own mistakes, critical, skeptic, boring Developed: sweethearts, perfect organisators, handles mental health well, friendly
Libra moon Undeveloped: superficial, indecesive, unsure about who they really are, nervous, manipulative, uses people for own good Developed: a great friend and advisor, happy and optimistic, open, loves to talk, knows what they have and are happy with it
Scorpio moon Undeveloped: grudge-holding, possessive and dark, often plays the victim, huffish, loners, sometimes even depressed Developed: shy, but helpful and truly loves the ones that love them, knows how to be at peace, loves themselves and all their edges, friendly
Sagittarius moon Undeveloped: fast-paced/hectical, too many thoughts they can’t put into words, can be clingy, do what they want, too loud Developed: funniest people ever, adventurous, free, peaceful, optimistic, know their worth, can be super serious and deep
Capricorn moon Undeveloped: flinty, cold-hearted, seems like they don’t have emotions, too hard on themselves, bossy Developed: have goals that they aspire to reach, supportive, persuasive power, can inspire others
Aquarius moon Undeveloped: rebellious, can’t find their place in the world, acts cold, uninterested, bored, hard to reach, delusive Developed: almost a genius, show hidden talents, fun to be around, super practical and great worker
Pisces moon Undeveloped: doesn’t care about anything, unrealistic life perceptions/ideas, lost their heads, moody, manipulating Developed: kind hearts, want to help change the world, great with kids, emotional support, creative
i feel so attacked rn :/// where my Taurus babies at
Peter: Will you drive me to the mall? Tony: What did Steve say? Peter: He said no. Tony: Then why would I allow you? Peter: He's not the boss of you. Tony: [internally] This is a trap this is a trap this is a trap
