Wesley Nabors arrived in Riverside from Texas with his family in 1911. His father had been a teamster and Wesley was also a driver, but on his draft registration he is listed as a farmer with the Lemon Heights Co., a packinghouse in Highgrove. He also worked at The Press newspaper as a delivery boy.
Wesley, along with friend Wesley Lambert, left Riverside for World War I in the first contingent to muster in at Camp Lewis. They departed for the fighting on September 19, 1917. Both young men were assigned to Company M, 364th Infantry, 91st Division. Nabors was killed in 1918, fighting in France. He was 25 years old.
Nabors became the first World War I casualty to be interred at Evergreen. His remains were returned from Europe and on May 21, 1921, his funeral drew 300 people and more than 100 men in uniform. Six American Legion boys pulled the body on an artillery caisson from Simons Funeral Parlor to Evergreen followed by almost 100 automobiles. Nabors was buried in the American Legion Post 79 lot. Neighbors’ friend, Wesley Lambert, was also killed in the fighting but his body was not returned to Riverside.
