Sonny uses a tape measure to mark the distance between cornerstones as he maps out a grave lot. Grave lots are typically 16x10 feet and some lots can bury up to four people.
The only sounds that can be heard are the soft clacking of a keyboard and the distant whistle of a train. This is how 85-year-old Lawerence “Sonny” McWhorter starts his day, every morning at 9 am. After dressing for the day and making himself a cup of coffee in one of his four seasonal mugs, Sonny sits down at his desk in his house located in Hamden, Ohio, to work.
He answers emails, works on digital maps to layout grave lots and pays his household bills. Yet, the most important work he does every morning according to him, is scanning five images and uploading them to his computer. Sonny has collected albums of photographs, dating all the way from 1950 until 2010, and every morning he picks five photographs to upload onto his computer, editing them and storing them away in their own dated folders.
“I think scanning some of them [photographs] is better than none,” Sonny said, “A lot of them [the photos] are really old but I have names for most of them [the people].”.
For Sonny, there is nothing more important than preserving the memories he’s created over the past eight decades, especially as his memory fades. His wife, Carolyn, believes that Sonny’s office is a mess, but for Sonny it holds the weight of the past, “A lot of the things in here were given to me or are county records.”
Sonny heads inside his house to grab a water after working in the afternoon sun. Sonny prefers working in the afternoons because they give him time for other things in the morning, like scanning photos or checking emails.
Sonny sits at his desk in his office and scans photographs. Sonny scans five images a day as part of his morning routine. “I think scanning some of them [photographs] is better than none.”
Lawerence “Sonny” McWhorter sits in the chair in his office located in the back of his home and tells the story of the night before he won the election as Clinton Township Trustee, I was scared [that night]. I was scared I was going to lose.”
Sonny sits at his desk in his office and scans photographs. Sonny scans five images a day as part of his morning routine. “I think scanning some of them [photographs] is better than none.”
Sonny puts away a photo of his wife and her sisters from the 1990’s back in a photo album in his office. Sonny writes the dates and names on the back of every photograph, "I'll even add the place if I remember."
Photo albums sit on a shelf in Sonny’s office. Many of the albums include family photos, but some are from the early days of Hamden. “A lot of them [the photos] are really old but I have names for most of them [the people].”
Another photo album on the shelf, among the many that are family albums, is a collection of photographs detailing the history of the town, from the first school bus built and driven by Sonny’s dad Floyd McWhorter, to the steam engines that used to make daily journeys through the village up to Columbus.
Sonny moved to Hamden, Ohio, from Wellston, Ohio, when he was just three years old, a five-minute journey by car today. He distinctly remembers the day Floyd moved the family to the town, opening a grocery store in the area, “My dad charged on credit, back when you could just tell the clerk to ‘put it on my account’.”
From there, Sonny has always stayed in the local village of Hamden, Ohio, proud to be one of the 842 residents that live in the community according to the 2024 Census.
Besides the occasional vacations, Sonny recalls that he has “really only left twice” in the 82 years he has lived in the village.
Once, when he enlisted in the National Guard and was sent off to basic training in Fort Knox, Kentucky, and the second time when he left for carry on training in Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri.
He served in the National Guard as a bridge crewmember for 7 years, before retiring to work at a steel factory in Wellston, Ohio, and marrying the “love of his life”, Carolyn. Yet, Sonny wanted to find a new way to serve his community, looking to follow in the footsteps of Floyd and become a Clinton Township Trustee.
The first round of elections was one of the most stressful and depressing nights Sonny said he remembers.
“I was scared [that night]. I was scared I was going to lose,” Sonny said, “I had to run by my real name, ‘Lawerence’, and I didn’t think enough people would recognize who that was.”
"I just wanted a way to give back to my community."
Sonny unlocks the gate to the Clinton Township building. Sonny has worked as a Clinton Township Trustee for nearly four decades, "I want to serve one last term before I retire."
Nearly four decades later and Sonny is still working as a Clinton Township Trustee. His main responsibility for the township is taking care of the eight cemeteries located throughout Clinton, “I keep track of all of the records, where people are buried, burial receipts and all of that.”
There’s never a dull moment working in a cemetery according to Sonny, even if all of the occupants cannot talk. Sonny has gone to the Ohio Cemetery Dispute Resolution Commission in Columbus to settle disputes, “21-stories up”, broken up fights at funerals and had to find inventive ways to bury caskets with the ground frozen solid.
He’s the go-to person in charge of any detail of the cemetery and is typically called upon most days to find a specific grave lot for the funeral homes in the area.
However, many of the trustees and even his wife, Caroyln, have expressed their concern over Sonny’s growing age and ailing body mixed with the physical demands of the job, “He’s out there all alone,” Carolyn said.
Even Sonny admits that his legs don’t work like they used to, but he worries that if he quits now, there will be no one to take over the cemetery, “I need to get everything [the cemetery records] straight before I can retire,” he said.
“Besides, working keeps me young.”
Sonny plans to run for office one last time before he’s ready to hang up his coat for good, stating that if he runs for another four years, he will be on equal terms with Floyd, serving the community for an even 40 years and the cemeteries for 26 years. He believes his odds of winning in the election are pretty good, considering that only one other person is running and two seats are open.
A map of Clinton Township sits on a corkboard along with photos taken by Sonny. The photos are all of natural disasters and events that have happened in the years Sonny has been a trustee.
Clinton Township Trustees (left) Charles Snavely, (middle) Lawrence "Sonny" McWhorter and (right) Fiscal Officer Vicki Patton, sign bills during the monthly Clinton Township Trustee meeting.
Sonny looks down as he places a brick cornerstone in the grass. He uses a garden trowel and a sod knife help him cut through the tough blades of grass and roots, "I like this grass. It's like walking on carpet," he says, "[but] it's hard to cut through."
Sonny works alone in Hamden Cemetery to place grave lot cornerstones. Carolyn and the other Clinton Township Trustees have expressed concern over Sonny working alone, worried about his growing age and physical limitations.
Sonny uses a sod knife to cut through the grass in Hamden Cemetery
Richard, from Ohio Southern Monuments, holds a phone up between him and Sonny so Richard's boss can give Sonny details about a grave lot.
"I've known Sonny for six years. You'll never meet a more hardworking person."
-Richard
Sonny sits in his truck and searches for a specific name in order to find a grave lot in Hamden Cemetery.
A cross necklace hangs from the rearview mirror in Sonny's truck. Sonny doesn't remember where the necklace came from, "I think Carolyn gave it to me.," he said.
A photo of Sonny's dad, Floyd, and mom, Dorsa, sits on the grill of Sonny's truck in the place of a license plate. Sonny picked the photo as soon as he found out that he didn't need his license plate number on both the front and back plate, "It's like carrying a piece of them with me."
Sonny drives back to his house after spending the afternoon working. Sonny still drives himself everywhere including to work and doctors' appointments, "My eyes still work," he says.
A sign hangs below the deck of the McWhorter household.
His plans for retirement? Spending time watching his great grandkids play in sports, building a model train set to go around the ceiling of his office and feeding the stray cats that find their way to his kitchen door. He wants to take every moment he still has to fill his time left.
And there’s nothing that makes Sonny happier than talking about his family, bragging about his great-granddaughter, Rory’s, accomplishments as the only girl on the boys’ football and wrestling team and his great-grandson, Sawyer’s, entrepreneurship capabilities, even though he is still just three.
Sonny enjoys every moment life still has to offer him, whether that’s taking the evening to sit with Carolyn or watching football on tv, he takes every opportunity while he still can, knowing that his body is slowly aging.
“I can barely walk sometimes,” Sonny said, “and I have a lot of health issues, but most of everyone else in my family made it into their 90’s.”
Now 85, Sonny looks forward to what comes next, not fearing the impending, but preparing for it, looking to imitate his dad in one last way.
A stray kitten meows as it sits on the concrete outside Sonny's driveway. Sonny loves to take care of stray animals, "I grew up watching my dad feed the stray cats with meat from the butcher shop. They would cling to the screen door and meow."
A collection of family photos hangs in the hallway of Sonny's house.
Sonny shows his wife, Carolyn, a news article on his phone as they sit outside their house. The article was about an incident that had happened at Kenworth, a semi-truck construction company in Chillicothe, Ohio. Sonny and Carolyn sit outside most evenings, "as long as the weather is good," Sonny says.
"My dad lived to 92, so I hope I can live that long as well."
Sonny exits the Clinton Township building.