Buena "Bunnie" Vista Battle Person
Buena “Bunnie” Vista Battle Person literally left her mark on more monuments in Baptist Hill Cemetery than any other person despite not having a headstone of her own. Born to Alfred and Hannah Battle in 1870, Bunnie married Madison Person in 1900—a man twice her age. It is likely either Bunnie’s husband Madison or her father Alfred who initiated a Mosaic Templars of America chamber in her honor. The Mosaic Templars of America were a benevolent fraternal organization based out of Little Rock, Arkansas. The Mosaic Templars provided health and burial insurance at a time where few people in the Black community could afford the cost of illnesses or the death of a loved one. The Templar organization made the once rare headstone for a person of African descent more common and became a turning point from common, unnamed field stones to more decorative markers with identifiers. Bunnie and Madison lived adjacent to Ebenezer Baptist Church on Thach Avenue. Bunnie Vista Person passed away on January 27th, 1929 and is buried in an unmarked grave, likely next to her husband in the Battle family plot. Although her plot is unmarked, her presence is felt throughout the cemetery on more than 20 headstones.