MILLEDGEVILLE -- On Sept. 19 an honor guard from Knights of Columbus Council 9458 took part in the rededication of what is believed to be the oldest Catholic grave in Memory Hill Cemetery. The six-foot grave slab marking where Patrick O’Brien was buried in 1831 and Mary Ann Fay in 1837 had broken apart. A historian alerted Sacred Heart Parish in 1991. After discovering that it could not be repaired, Knights of Columbus continued the effort, according to Dick Benson. Rick Williams of White Columns Funeral Home was able to obtain a donation of the new granite and contributed the cost of inscribing it. Benson said the Knights have been unable to confirm by research a report that O’Brien was a priest. Originally from Dublin, Ireland, he died Aug. 11, 1831 at the age of 27. Mary Ann Fay died at the age of 8. The original marker was dedicated by James and Richard O’Brien.

REDEDICATION -- Father Michael McWhorter, left center, pastor of Sacred Heart Church, Milledgeville, and Father Hugh Marren, right center, former pastor, take part in the rededication of an 1831 Catholic gravesite in Memory Hill Cemetery. Members of Knights of Columbus Council 9458, assisted by Rick Williams, center, of White Columns Funeral Home, replaced the granite gravestone of Patrick O’Brien.