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The Kings Mountain Herald
EMILY WEAVER
eweaver@kingsmountainherald.com
Jim Belt said that this Christmas Eve’s luminary service
was the best one yet at Mountain Rest Cemetery. “More peo-
ple came through this year then they did last year,” he said.
“Next year we will have a counter on the gates to tell us
how many actually come through. But it was a continuous
flow this year. For four hours it was bumper to bumper.”
Church buses from Cherryville and Gastonia rolled
through the luminary along with a man on a tractor, pulling
a trailer of hay-riders singing Christmas carols. Other carols
rang beautifully from the new bells on the new bell tower at
the cemetery. “STAR IN THE EAST” was spelled out with
glowing lights on the hill, now referred to as the “marquee.”
The base of the tower was accented with about 100 radiating
milk jugs.
“When you're so tired and you think you can’t take anoth-
er step that energy comes back to you doing this,” Belt said.
“That is our Christmas. Just as much as it is giving to others,
it gives to us.” Just like most of the visitors, he finds the feel-
ings generated by the magnificence of these simple lights as
heartwarming and overwhelming. So much so he said, “that
you just start to cry and you don’t really even know why
you're crying it just stirs within you that much.”
He said that the new route they set up ran great and all of
the cars seemed to travel smoothly through the winding
course of the cemetery. “There were a lot of good drivers
this year because there were hardly any jugs crushed,” he
~ said with a laugh. In past years there have been rows of
almost 50 jugs at a time that were accidentally crushed by
motorists. But the course this Christmas Eve glowed with
the intense luminescence of 6,000 candles, lighting the way,
brightening the spirits and warming the hearts of hundreds
of travelers.
Danny Clark, a volunteer that has come to help out for the
past five years, traveled all the way from his home in Myrtle
Beach, SC, to once again lend a helping hand. KMPD Ofc.
Todd McDougal and the Police Explorers also volunteered
for three days. Belt said that his wife and himself were very
pleased with the turn-out and the amount of community
support they received. -
Eight of the lighted milk jugs at the front of the entrance
to Mountain Rest Cemetery had significant meaning to the
Belts this year. They were to honor Mrs. Brenda Belt’s best:
friend, Rachel Long, who recently passed away. “She was =
_ really one of the inspirers of this service,” Mr. Belt said.
‘Thirteen years ago it was Long who encouraged Mrs. Belt to
visit a luminary service in Gastonia, an inspiration which
would kick off an annual Kings Mountain Christmas Eve
vigil.
Sn had always donated and cut up milk jugs for the
luminary to contribute to her best friend's cause. This year
she wasn’t able to do so, rendered with an illness that would
take her life before Christmas. The Belts felt the sadness of
her passing and were determined to reserve some of the
candle-lit milk jugs in her honor. Almost as if from the
grave, Long helped her friends one more time.
While going through some things and getting his jugs
ready he said, “I found a black plastic bag with 8 cut jugs
that she had cut for me last year. We put them at the
entrance to the cemetery.” Others may not have known that
those eight jugs were displayed in remembrance of Long.
No sign marked the heartfelt story of why eight simple
lights glow bright for a friend who has passed. But the Belts
knew it and they take comfort in knowing that somewhere,
smiling down on them Long knows it too. Belt said that they
plan to keep those eight to use every year.
Collections have already begun for next year’s Christmas
Eve Luminary service. “We need milk jugs. Save them all
year for us and we will come and collect them for next
year,” Belt said. A collection bin has been set up behind 101
N. Carpenter Street (behind the New China Restaurant). The
milk jugs need to be either clear or frosty in transparency,
one-gallon size, and clean. /