Cemetery holds 40 years of family pets gone but not fur-gotten

When Sharon Ferguson tells someone there’s a cemetery on her property, they don’t usually expect to hear about a possum that served as the mascot for the Possum Town Grand Prix – twice.

But for more than 40 years, Ferguson’s front yard on Hughes Road south of Columbus has been the final resting place of the furry, feathered and even finned members of her family.

“It makes me feel good,” she said. “I’m showing them the respect they showed me.”

Ferguson started her pet cemetery in 1983 when she buried a 12-year-old dog named Rusty. Since then, the cemetery has grown to host more than 30 pets, ranging from dogs and cats to a 10-year-old goldfish named Queenie and Blossom the possum.

“Somebody hit a mama possum … and (my daughter) and my great grandchild happened to find one little baby,” Ferguson said. “She bottle fed it and raised it. It got really big and very friendly.”

The domesticated possum had her 15 minutes of fame before crossing the rainbow bridge. She served as the mascot for the Possum Town Grand Prix at Columbus Speedway twice, Ferguson said.

“The winners of the race had to hold the possum,” she said. “Some of them weren’t too crazy about doing it, but Johnny Stokes (who owns Magnolia Motor Speedway), he just had to carry that possum all around.”

The cemetery is far less spooky than it may sound. Each grave features a small cross labeled with the animal’s name, and some have cement markers. She’s in the process of finding more customizable markers that show the animals’ faces.

Colorful pinwheels are spread throughout the graves, and a rainbow bridge sign decorates the tree in the middle. There’s even a small bench in the cemetery, where Ferguson’s daughter, Tracy Johnson, said her granddaughters like to sit and spend time with the animals. To Johnson, it’s a way to keep the pets close to home after they’re gone.

“It’s just like a human cemetery,” she said. “They’re family. You want them close enough to be able to visit with them.”

Several of the family’s dogs have a home at the cemetery. Ferguson, who has an affinity for the larger breeds, said one of the hardest dogs to let go of was Ace the black labrador retriever.

Ace was one of nine labs the family rescued and bottle-fed as puppies. When Ferguson’s husband, Ricky, passed away, Ace was a big comfort to her, she said.

“That was my soulmate right there,” Ferguson said of the lab. “He slept at the foot of my bed. I just had a feeling that my husband was in this dog protecting me.”

For Ferguson, the cemetery is the least she could do as far as honoring the pets who have loved her and her family over the years. Each pet is buried in one of their blankets or a handmade coffin, she said.

“It’s a labor of love,” she said. “I hate the thought of an animal just being put in a hole and covered up with dirt. I feel like I owe them too much to just dump them in the ground and cover them up.”

Johnson predicts the family will continue using the cemetery for a long time.

“My husband jokes and tells me he’s going to bury me there,” she said. “I told him that’s perfectly fine with me.”

McRae is a general assignment and education reporter for The Dispatch.