Hello MO-PLATTE Folks, The Smith Cemetery is located in the NW corner of Platte Co. I had not seen this article, even though it is about my McHENRY cousins, once/twice removed. The pigs belong to a HEATH first cousin. Going to this cemetery is always a hoot (turn west at the dirt road by the pigpens) but it is beautiful once you get there!! This article came out at the same time I was trying to rescue another small Platte County cemetery last year, the McCOMAS cemetery, where more relatives are buried. Funny how that worked out, maybe great Related minds think alike? Leawood boy lends voice to cemetery fund-raiser Matt McHenry sings about pig living near family plots in Missouri Kansas City Star, The (MO) August 22, 2001 Author: CAIT PURINTON; The Kansas City Star Edition: JOHNSON COUNTY Section: BLUE VALLEY & LEAWOOD STAR, Page: 3 The only girl 11-year-old Matt McHenry is interested in has floppy ears, a steel ring in her nose, crooked teeth and 12 babies. Actually, he's quite fond of her, even though "she's really fat" - about 900 pounds. Last week Matt and his grandfather's band, the All-Star Dixieland Band, recorded a song about "this wonderful lady" who has "bugs and ticks in her hair" in an effort to raise money to support small, rural cemeteries. Pancake, the pig who inspired the lyrics to the song, lives on the Heath farm north of Smithville, Mo., next to the Smith Cemetery, a place the McHenrys say no one could find unless they know all the right turns. Each year on Memorial Day, Matt, his parents and twin brother, Ryan, make the hour-long drive from Leawood to the cemetery with Howard McHenry, the boys' grandfather, to visit family members' graves. After decorating the tombstones, they have a picnic under an old walnut tree near the cemetery's entrance. Then one day about three years ago, an "oink, oink, oink" and a "slop, slop, slop" interrupted their fried chicken meal. Matt and Ryan fed the roaming pig and decided to name her Pancake. Before long, visiting Pancake became a part of the McHenry's Memorial Day tradition. "It seems like Pancake is always there waiting for us, saying, 'Hey come play with me and feed me,' " Matt said. But this summer's trip was special. "Sooey! Sooey! Here Pancake, here Pancake!" Pancake didn't respond to Howard's call this time. "Sooey! Sooey! Here Pancake, here Pancake!" They looked down, and right before the eyes Pancake was giving birth to 12 piglets - nothing ever witnessed by any of them before. Howard, a former Harrisonville Mayor, was so inspired by Pancake and piglets, he wrote The Pancake Song with the intention to use proceeds from the song to spruce up the one-acre cemetery. He wants to raise money for a new wrought iron fence at the cemetery and to identify all the graves. To accomplish that, they need about $25,000. The cemetery was founded, Howard said, by Civil War soldiers, and that about 100 people are buried there. Money raised from the song will help identify if there are any more. Howard gathered six of his musician friends from the Ararat Shrine to record the song, but they needed the right voice for the lyrics. So, Howard tricked Matt into singing into a tape recorder. "He asked me if I would go downstairs and sing songs to give to my dad," Matt said. "He played a song I never heard before, and I said 'What is this song?"' It was The Pancake Song. A week ago, Matt met up with the band at Chapman Studio in Kansas City to record the song. Before that the band had never performed with Matt. "Matt walked up to the microphone with no words and no lyrics, and we kicked it off with that one take," said Howard, the trombone player. Matt practiced singing the song at least twice a day for a couple of weeks before he went to the recording studio. Sitting outside the studio, his mother, Debbie, said she could hear the band members critiquing each other and was nervous for Matt when it was his turn to sing. After all, Ryan was the one taking singing lessons. Matt plays the piano. "I don't understand what it is about Matt," she said. "He started baseball this year pitching, and he doesn't get nervous. He's the same at his piano recitals." "I find it very, very interesting this kid does all these things and doesn't get nervous." The McHenrys and the All-Star Dixieland Band are selling copies of the song, and five other songs from the band members. All money raised beyond that will be available for similar cemeteries throughout the United States. To be eligible for the money, cemetery officials have to apply with The Pancake Song Foundation. "The small cemeteries in rural areas need money to mow grass or fix the fence, so they can write to this committee, explain their needs and desires, ... and if money is available we can send them money," Howard said. He said he hopes schools find out about the song and teach it to children. In addition to the compact discs, copies of the lyrics and piano sheet music are available. Twelve gold-labeled CDs will be available for $1,000. Followed by 25 silver-labeled CDs for $500 and 100 yellow-labeled CDs for $100. The regularly labeled CDs are for sale at $10 each. To contribute to the Pancake Foundation, submit letters to Pancake Song, P.O. Box 48, Smithville, Mo., 64089. Caption: Howard McHenry (left) wrote a song about some pigs near a cemetery close to Smithville, Mo., where some of his family members are buried. Matt McHenry of Leawood, his grandson, sang the song, and they are distributing it as a fund-raiser for the cemetery. TODD FEEBACK/Special to The Star Photo (color) ------------------------------------------- Angie Anthony MOCLAY list administrator Kansas City, MO angieant@swbell.net -------------------------------------------