To the Editor:
Joe James is a big man with a long memory. I’m guessing he has a heart to match, too.
Not long ago, with Robin out of town, I decided to visit an old college pal in Charlotte to spend the day catching up and solving the world’s problems. Yep — just look around and see how well we do. But with some time to spare while he finished an appointment, I drove over to the city’s Evergreen Cemetery. There was a grave I had wanted to visit for several decades.
In 1976, one of this region’s most sensational murder cases occurred when Vickie Maria McKinney was kidnapped and brutally murdered on April 21. Nineteen years old and a student at Central Piedmont Community College, Vickie was abducted in the parking lot by a 32-year old convicted felon moments after she arrived for an early class. Another young woman witnessed the abduction and immediately contacted the police. Within a few hours, the felon was arrested at a service station, but not before he had brutalized and killed Vickie. Her body was found in a wooded area off Hwy 74 near Matthews.
The felon’s name is not important; only Vickie matters now. A eulogy from the time summed her life. After noting the barbarism that took her, it described a “vivacious, friendly, fun-loving, free-spirited, happy, caring” young woman. The accompanying photo of her, at age 18 or 19, revealed hair not coiffed for a staged shot, but a smiling girl poised for her next adventure.
Eight days before Vickie’s death I had returned from a tour of duty in West Germany, and would not depart on leave from Fort Hood, Texas, for another month. A local friend had taken an interest and alerted me about the case. I have always appreciated that cemeteries are full of stories, and knew that I would visit this one some day.
If you don’t know how to find a grave at Evergreen, you need a map … or Joe James. The map wasn’t working for me, so I returned to the cemetery office. The staff there is very nice, and a lady offered to have someone escort me to the site. Joe James seemed on top of the world perched high upon Evergreen’s motor grader/scoop. “Follow me!” he directed with a grin, and within moments he had pulled alongside a row of graves. Stepping down from his perch, Joe walked me to the nearby plot. Vickie’s parents and another young family member have joined her now.
A friendly man of about my age, Mr. James has been employed with the city of Charlotte for about a half-century. He has dug many a grave, and labored to maintain this cemetery. But he looked at Vickie’s stone and quietly said, “That girl was murdered; I remember it.” He pointed in the general direction of the graves of murder victims he has opened. “Some of them just stay with you.”
Joe did not open Vickie’s grave; he noted that his supervisor at the time did that. The days mount quickly after a too-young murder victim is laid to rest. Over 17,000 of them have passed since Vickie came to Evergreen. People move on … too many forget.
Joe James remembers.
Doug Smith, Rockingham
