Just outside Carthage, Texas, beside U.S. Highway 79, a life-size statue of “Gentleman” Jim Reeves stands with his guitar, looking out over a quiet, tree-shaded plot of land. Most people who pull into the little parking lot come for the statue. What many of them miss is the second grave, a few feet behind it.
That grave belongs to Cheyenne, the dog Jim Reeves loved.
One Step Behind, Even Now
In 1967, three years after Jim Reeves died, Cheyenne died too. He was buried inside the concrete circle that surrounds his master’s grave. The placement was not random. Cheyenne was laid to rest just a few feet to one side and slightly to the rear, in almost exactly the position he would have taken when he walked along behind Jim.
The Jim Reeves Memorial’s own description still explains it that way today. For anyone who has ever had a dog who stayed at their heel, the meaning needs no explanation at all.
Cheyenne is often described as a collie, and he was part of the Reeves household in Nashville, where the family lived from 1958. Little else is recorded about his last years. What is known is enough: when his time came, he was brought back to Texas and given a place beside the man he had followed.
How Jim Reeves Came Home to Texas
Jim Reeves was 40 years old and one of the most beloved voices in the world when his small private plane went down near Nashville on July 31, 1964, during a storm. He was at the controls, and his pianist and manager, Dean Manuel, was with him. Neither man survived.
Jim Reeves had grown up in Galloway, a tiny rural community in Panola County, Texas. That is where his family brought him home. East Texas writer Bob Bowman, who covered the funeral as a young reporter, later wrote that it was the one he remembered most. The highway toward Shreveport was so jammed with cars that people had to park miles away and walk the rest of the way just to be there.
The Memorial by the Highway
Jim Reeves was buried on a quiet plot of land at Liberty Hill, about three miles east of Carthage. After the burial, a life-size statue was placed at the center of his grave. It shows him in his performance tuxedo, holding his guitar, standing on a tall pillar above the spot where he rests.
Today the site has its own small parking area, a walkway shaped like a large granite guitar and a Texas historical marker added in the 1990s. Visitors from every state and from many countries have made the trip to see it, many of them carrying memories of hearing “He’ll Have to Go” or his Christmas songs on the radio.
Who Rests There Today
Jim Reeves is no longer alone in that circle. His wife Mary, who spent years protecting his music and his memory after his death, was later laid to rest at the memorial beside him. And just behind them, where he always was, lies Cheyenne.
In 1967, the same year Cheyenne was buried, Jim Reeves was voted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. Nashville honored the singer. Back in Texas, his family made sure his dog came home too.
The Grave People Walk Past
Bob Bowman put it simply in one of his columns: people seldom realize there is a second grave at the Jim Reeves Memorial. They look up at the statue, read the marker, maybe take a picture and head back to the highway.
But if you ever stop there, look a few steps behind the statue. That small grave tells you something no plaque can. Long after the plane, the headlines and the crowds, someone still remembered exactly where Cheyenne belonged.
Did you ever have a dog who followed you everywhere like that? We would love to hear about them in the comments.