ELDERVILLE — About 30 people with ties to the century-old Elderville Cemetery gathered beneath a recently restored stone arch Sunday afternoon to dedicate the renovations to the memory of a Longview woman.

The family of Brenda Delyce Wyche raised the $40,000 for the wrought iron and stone fence. Wyche died Dec. 27 and is buried at the historic cemetery beside her grandparents.

The sunny, clear weather for the ceremony was a stark contrast from the freezing rain of Saturday when organizers for the ceremony feared it would have to be postponed.

"Yesterday when it was sleeting and snowing, I thought "How are we going to do this," cemetery board member Vera Garlough told the crowd. "But the Lord performs miracles, and here we are today with beautiful weather."

The new gateway and fence replaced a dilapidated chain-link barrier that had been in place since the 1930s, Garlough said. She and other board members worried that the historic arch would have to be removed completely until Wyche's family decided to fund the renovations in her memory.

Garlough said stonemason Ellis Sutherland conducted an exhaustive search to find stones that matched those of the original structure and used the older stones throughout the new gate. Two granite statues of praying angels sit atop the posts of the gate, and workers planted rosemary, a Biblical symbol of remembrance, at its base.

The cemetery is behind Centre Presbyterian Church on Texas 322 near the Gregg County Airport.

Dr. Jack Shoultz of Garland, who spoke on the history of the cemetery, said his parents went to a revival at the church as their first date. Shoultz entertained the crowd with stories about the Elderville townspeople who are now buried in the cemetery.

He called the cemetery a "reservoir of the great values of the Old South" and said the renovation was a fitting continuance of its rich history.

"We are not here to tell stories about the cemetery but to celebrate a life. Words will never equal deeds. The words I say will never equal your deeds. The work you performed makes what we do here today meaningful."