Why is This Headstone for Prince in a Battle Creek, Michigan Cemetery?

Why is there a headstone for Prince in Battle Creek’s Oak Hill Cemetery when he was buried in Minnesota? I’ll get to that in a minute; but first, there are some other famous headstones in this graveyard.

First up is W.K. (Wiiliam Keith) Kellogg, co-founder of all those famous cereals you grew up with (corn flakes, Rice Krispies, Froot Loops), and countless others that failed (Corneroos, Kream Krunch, Kellogg’s OK’s). He and his brother John Harvey Kellogg began crankin’ out health foods (cereals) in 1897.

Don’t believe any of those dumb urban legends or rumors you may have heard about W.K. choking to death on one of his cereals...not true. He passed away in Battle Creek in 1951 at the age of 91 of a circulatory illness. His health cereals must have paid off, for he outlived all but two of his five children.

Get our free mobile app

Next up is Battle Creek’s other cereal mogul, C.W. Post. His cereals also were ones we grew up with (Post Toasties, Post Raisin Bran, Post Grape-Nuts) as well as the ones that just didn’t last (Bran & Prune Flakes, Crispy Critters, Pink Panther Flakes).

C.W. (Charles William) was a former patient in Kellogg’s sanitariums, where he got the idea for his own line of cereals. In March 1914, his pains led him and others to believe he was suffering from appendicitis; he was rushed to the Mayo Clinic, where a successful operation was performed. Once home, however, his pains did not subside, and not wanting to keep living in pain, on May 9, 1914 he shot himself in the head. He was 59 years old.

Also buried here is the leader of Motown’s Junior Walker & The All Stars, Junior himself: Autry DeWalt Mixon. He and the band had a good number of hits in the 60s: Pucker Up Buttercup, I’m a Road Runner, and his most famous, Shotgun. Junior was also the guy who played sax on Foreigner’s 1981 hit, Urgent. Junior passed away from cancer at the age of 64 in 1995.

Finally, on to the gravestone that has the symbol Prince used throughout his career, as well as the name “Prince” smack in the middle of the stone. People visiting Oak Hill Cemetery do a double take and venture nearer for a closer look; on the other side of the stone is the name Edward Gates. He passed away on Valentine’s Day, February 14, 2017. The answer to the stone is simple: Edward was a huge, rabid Prince fan. That’s all we need to know.

MORE MICHIGAN CEMETERIES: