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Sierra Madre Pioneer Cemetery
At
the corner of Coburn and Sierra Madre Blvd.
Photos of the
Cemetery
In 1881, Nathaniel Coburn
Carter purchased 2.32 acres of land located along Central Ave., which has since
been renamed Sierra Madre Blvd. The land was to be the location of the
Sierra Madre Pioneer Cemetery. In 1884, John Richardson, a Civil War
veteran who had recently moved to Sierra Madre became the first person interred
in the Cemetery. Members of twelve of the first seventeen families that
lived in Sierra Madre when it was founded in 1881, are buried in the cemetery.
Also buried in the Cemetery are
veterans of the Civil War, both Union and Confederate, the Spanish American War,
World War One, World War Two, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. There
are also some soldiers of the British Commonwealth buried in the Cemetery.
Until 1911, the Cemetery had no
formal caretaking operation in place. At that time, The Sierra Madre
Cemetery Association was established as an Arizona corporation. Funds for
the upkeep of the Cemetery were generated by the sale of gravesites and stock in
the Cemetery. It was at that time that official records of those interred
were kept for the first time. By 1938, most of the plots had been sold and
the Cemetery Association had essentially become defunct. The cemetery plot
records were turned over to a local mortuary around this time (these records
have since been returned to the current association). The cemetery fell into
neglect, except for the efforts of volunteers, family members of those interred,
local members of the Veterans of Foreign Wars and American Legion, and the City
of Sierra Madre.
A new Sierra Madre Cemetery
Association was organized in 1961, which has maintained the cemetery ever since.
Current head of maintenance of the grounds is Chris Cimino. Current
President of the Association is George Enyedi. Records of those buried in
the more than century-old cemetery are incomplete, but attempts are underway, by
the current all-volunteer Board of Directors to recreate as much of the old data
as possible. In recent years, a new retaining wall was built, and the
"usable" area of the Cemetery was expanded, allowing again the sale of plots
within the Cemetery. Recently, a Memorial "cottage" that houses a
computerized touch-screen directory of the plots was built, using donated funds
Each year, Memorial and
Veterans’ Day services are held in the cemetery, sponsored by the
Sierra Madre Veterans of Foreign Wars, Harry L. Embree
Post 3208. The VFW also keeps ongoing records of veterans interred in the
cemetery and with the help of local Scout Troop 373, decorates the veteran's
graves with flags in their honor for the ceremonies. Below are links to
pages showing photos of two of the Memorial Day observances.
Some of the above
information was excerpted from "History of the Sierra Madre Cemetery" By
Bryan Duffy
Here are
some links to events that have taken place in the Cemetery.
VFW Memorial Day Service at Pioneer Cemetery, 5/26/03
Funeral
Service for Jim Heasley, July 23
Veterans of Foreign Wars Memorial Day Ceremony at Pioneer Cemetery, 5/29/00
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Robinson Family headstone |
Timothy Teigler headstone |
Velasquez family plot |
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Citizen of the Year 2002 Jim Heasley's headstone |
A
view toward the hills |
Room
for new plots |
Memorial shed features touch-screen plot directory, plaques in tribute to
local clergy |
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One
of the plaques |
Construction of the memorial shed was funded in part by the sale of floor
tiles |
Three
more plaques |
Looking south from the shed, there are lots of oaks for shade |
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Flag
waves along Sierra Madre Blvd. |
The
Cemetery, like the Ford, has survived the ages |
Headstone of Sierra Madre's founder Nathaniel Carter and wife |
Scout
Pack 373 places flag on veteran's headstones each Memorial Day |
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