The Historical Society of Avon ParkAVON PARK, FL · EST. 1886
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Lakeview Memorial Gardens: SSG Charles Wayne Jenkins, Robert E. Sherwood, and the 1969 Cemetery Founding

Avon Park’s only commercial perpetual-care park cemetery, Lakeview Memorial Gardens at 854 Memorial Drive, was established in early 1969 by developer Robert E. Sherwood. Documentary records from the Defense Casualty Analysis System (DCAS), the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, county biographical records, and cemetery archives verify the circumstances of its inception and corroborate that the first interment in the memorial park was United States Army combat correspondent Staff Sergeant Charles Wayne Jenkins on 2 April 1969.

Robert E. Sherwood and the Cemetery Inception (1968–1969)

Lakeview Memorial Gardens was conceived and developed by Robert E. Sherwood (28 December 1928 – 23 May 2015)[obit-robert-sherwood-2015]. Born in Linton, Greene County, Indiana, Sherwood relocated to Highlands County in 1959, establishing himself as an active regional general contractor and land developer[obit-robert-sherwood-2015]. As President and Chief Executive Officer of Sebring Shores Development, Inc., he platted and built the Sebring Shores community and constructed the Sebring Shores Golf Course in 1966[obit-robert-sherwood-2015].

In 1968, Sherwood identified the need for a modern, landscaped memorial park cemetery in northern Highlands County to complement the municipal Bougainvillea Cemetery and historic Lakeside Historical Cemetery[lakeview-about]. He acquired a twenty-five-acre tract situated south of Avon Park along Memorial Drive, designing the grounds in an L-shaped plan extending toward Lake Denton[lakeview-about]. Sherwood formally organized the enterprise under Florida corporate law as Lakeview Memorial Gardens, Inc. (Document Number 329423) and served as a director on the board of the Florida State Cemetery Association[obit-robert-sherwood-2015].

Sherwood remained a prominent civic figure in Highlands County for over fifty years, serving as a charter member of the Sebring Kiwanis Club and sitting on the board of directors of Tropical State Bank and Barnett Bank for thirty years[obit-robert-sherwood-2015]. Following his death on 23 May 2015 at the age of 86, Sherwood was interred in a graveside service at Lakeview Memorial Gardens, the cemetery he had established forty-six years earlier[obit-robert-sherwood-2015].

The First Burial: Staff Sergeant Charles Wayne Jenkins (2 April 1969)

Lakeview Memorial Gardens opened for its first interment on 2 April 1969, conducting the military funeral of Staff Sergeant Charles Wayne Jenkins[lakeview-about][fg-lakeview-jenkins].

Federal military casualty records preserved in the Defense Casualty Analysis System (DCAS) of the National Archives and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund Wall of Faces establish the verified service record of SSG Jenkins:

  • Identity & Rank: Charles Wayne Jenkins (Service Number US53488210), Staff Sergeant (E-6), Regular Army, United States Army[dcas-jenkins-1969][vvmf-jenkins-1969].
  • Vital Dates: Born 11 November 1940; casualty date 19 March 1969 (aged 28)[dcas-jenkins-1969].
  • Home of Record: Lake Placid, Highlands County, Florida[dcas-jenkins-1969].
  • Unit & Specialty: Headquarters and Headquarters Company (HHC), 1st Battalion, 5th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile)[dcas-jenkins-1969]. Jenkins served under Military Occupational Specialty (MOS) 71Q40 as an Information Specialist / Military Journalist, providing combat correspondence and field reporting for the 1st Cavalry Division[dcas-jenkins-1969].
  • Tour of Duty & Casualty Details: His active Vietnam tour commenced on 3 September 1968. On 19 March 1969, while operating in Bien Hoa Province, South Vietnam (Military Region 3), Staff Sergeant Jenkins died in a non-hostile vehicle crash during military ground operations[dcas-jenkins-1969].
  • National Memorial: He is permanently memorialized on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., inscribed on Panel 29W, Line 79[vvmf-jenkins-1969].

Jenkins’s body was returned to the United States and conveyed to Highlands County, where his funeral was held on 2 April 1969, inaugurating the new Lakeview Memorial Gardens burial grounds (Lot 2833)[lakeview-about][fg-lakeview-jenkins]. Because of his status as the inaugural burial and a fallen serviceman of the Vietnam War, Jenkins is commemorated annually during Memorial Day services conducted at Lakeview Memorial Gardens, where civic and veterans’ organizations render a twenty-one-gun rifle salute and wreath presentation at his gravesite[lakeview-about].

Chronological Precedence of Memorial Stones

Although Find a Grave indexes several memorials in Lakeview Memorial Gardens showing dates of death between 1942 and 1968 predating the 1969 founding, cemetery records confirm that all such markers represent later reinterments from older family plots or posthumous memorial markers placed by relatives after the park opened[lakeview-about][fg-lakeview]. The first physical interment performed on the property remains that of SSG Charles Wayne Jenkins on 2 April 1969.

References

Where this comes from

Evidence
corroborated — More than one independent source agrees.
Review
unverified — Drafted from sources but not yet checked by a volunteer.
Rights
society

Sources

  1. National Archives / HonorStates, Staff Sergeant Charles Wayne Jenkins, Defense Casualty Analysis System (DCAS) / HonorStates (1969) · official
  2. Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, Charles Wayne Jenkins, Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund Wall of Faces, Panel 29W, Line 79 (2026) · archival
  3. Stephenson-Nelson Funeral Home / Legacy.com, Robert E. Sherwood Obituary (December 28, 1928 – May 23, 2015) (2015) · archival
  4. Lakeview Memorial Gardens, About Us, Lakeview Memorial Gardens and Cemeteries (2026) · secondary
  5. Find a Grave contributors, SSGT Charles Wayne Jenkins (1940–1969), Lakeview Memorial Gardens, Find a Grave memorial 100742918 (2012) · secondary
  6. Find a Grave contributors, Lakeview Memorial Gardens, Avon Park, Find a Grave cemetery 72169 (2026) · secondary

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